Microsoft enters 20-year deal for Texas wind power

Microsoft Corp. has reached a 20-year deal to directly buy wind energy from a turbine farm being built in Texas.

The tech giant announced the agreement Monday with RES Americas, a wind and solar developer. It declined to put a price tag on the deal.

Microsoft says it is funding the deal through "carbon fees" collected from company divisions for every ton of carbon produced.

Microsoft's director of energy strategy Brian Janous says it is the first time the company is directly purchasing electricity.

Construction of the $200 million turbine farm will begin in December. It should be operational by June 2015.

It will produce about 430,000 megawatt hours of energy, enough to power up to 45,000 homes, about 5 percent to 10 percent of Microsoft's total energy consumption.