Amazon has 66 renewable energy projects including 51 solar rooftops that generate 1,342MW of renewable capacity
Image: The new projects will supply clean energy to its Amazon Web Services datacentres. Photo: Courtesy of Amazon.com, Inc.
Amazon has announced new investments in two renewable energy projects in the US and EU, marking the company’s 65th and 66th renewable energy projects.
The EU project is planned to be located in Cork, Ireland, which would be the second Amazon Wind Farm in the Republic of Ireland.
Once complete, the new wind farm is expected to provide 23.2MW of renewable capacity, and generate 68,000MWh of clean energy annually.
Amazon’s US project is planned to be located in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, which marks the company’s seventh solar farm in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Once complete, the new solar farm in Virginia is expected to provide 45MW of renewable capacity and generate 100,000MWh of clean energy annually.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam said: “It’s wonderful to see the announcement of these new projects, which will help bring more renewable energy to the Commonwealth of Virginia where Amazon has already helped bring significant solar energy projects online.
“Amazon’s new solar farm in Virginia will create jobs and economic development in rural Virginia, and will continue to build upon our role as a leading state for renewable energy in the U.S.”
Amazon’s new projects in EU and US are expected to start producing clean energy in 2020
Once operational in 2020, the new projects are set to supply clean energy to its Amazon Web Services datacentres, to power Amazon and its AWS customers across the world.
Amazon claims that it has 66 renewable energy projects including 51 solar rooftops that generate 1,342MW of renewable capacity and deliver more than 3.9million MWh of clean energy annually, and eliminated the CO2 equivalent of more than 200million miles of truck deliveries.
Amazon sustainability director Kara Hurst said: “Playing a significant role in helping to reduce the sources of human-induced climate change is an important commitment for Amazon.
“Major investments in renewable energy are a critical step to address our carbon footprint globally. We will continue to invest in these projects, and look forward to additional investments this year and beyond.”