Duke Energy touts Amazon cloud deal to boost grid modernization
peterschreiber.media/iStock via Getty Images

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) said Tuesday it signed a three-year deal with Amazon's (AMZN) cloud computing unit to use Amazon Web Services to run applications that predict electricity needs on its power grid, and where and how the grid should be updated to meet those needs; financial terms were not disclosed.
Duke Energy (DUK) runs tens of millions of power flow simulations in each of its jurisdictions every year to determine energy needs, a task that takes weeks when using its own hardware; the company aims to run the same simulations on AWS in 15 minutes or less, Bonnie Titone, the company's chief information officer, told The Wall Street Journal.
"If we're going to move at a pace around this energy transformation, and this modernization of our grid, we really needed to rethink how we were going to do that and process the sheer amount of information and data that's coming onto our grid," Titone said.
Separately, Duke Energy (DUK) said Monday it agreed to acquire the 100 MW Wildflower Solar project in Mississippi from Clearway Energy (NYSE:CWEN) for an undisclosed sum.
Toyota (TM) has signed a 15-year virtual power purchase agreement for up to 80 MW of the solar energy produced by the project, which is located near the automaker's manufacturing plant in the state.
The move represents another major step towards Toyota's (TM) goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2035.