Amazon plans to power its AWS data centres in the US and the UK through renewable energy
Image: Amazon signs PPAs for renewable projects. Photo: Courtesy of Grégory ROOSE/Pixabay
Online retail giant Amazon has announced power purchase agreements (PPAs) for three renewable energy projects with a total capacity of 265MW to be located in the UK and the US.
The PPAs are part of Amazon’s commitment to power 80% of its operations with renewable energy by 2024 and 100% with renewable energy by 2030 on its path to net zero carbon by 2040.
As part of the deal, the company has signed a PPA for a 50MW wind project to be located on the Kintyre Peninsula, Scotland. Upon completion, the wind farm will generate 168,000MWh of clean energy annually, enough to power 46,000 British households.
The other two solar projects will be located in the US – one in Warren County, North Carolina, and the other in Prince George County, Virginia. The two projects will together generate 215MW or 500,997MWh of clean energy annually.
This will be Amazon’s second project in North Carolina and eighth renewable project in Virginia.
The three renewable energy projects will power Amazon’s operations in 2021
The wind and solar projects are expected to come online in 2021 and will be able to power Amazon Web Services data centres, which power Amazon and millions of AWS customers globally.
Amazon sustainability director Kara Hurst said: “In addition to the environmental benefits inherently associated with running applications in the cloud, Amazon is committed to minimizing our carbon emissions and reaching 80% renewable energy use across the company by 2024.
“We’ve announced eight projects this year and have more projects on the horizon – and we’re committed to investing in renewable energy as a critical step toward addressing our carbon footprint globally.
“With nearly 70 renewable energy projects around the globe – including 54 solar rooftops – we are making significant progress towards reaching Amazon’s company-wide commitment to reach 100% renewable energy by 2030.”
Amazon claims to have launched 18 utility-scale wind and solar projects so far, generating more than 1.6GW of renewable energy, delivering over 4.6 million MWh of clean energy annually, which is enough to power 368,000 US homes.
Amazon has also installed solar rooftops at its fulfilment centres and sort centres around the world, generating 98MW or 130,000MWh of clean energy annually.
Scotland Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands Paul Wheelhouse said: “Agreements like this Power Purchase Agreement speak volumes of the levels of confidence from major employers and business across all sectors in Scotland’s renewable energy infrastructure.”
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said: “Today’s announcement by Amazon is another important step for North Carolina’s clean energy plan that will increase our reliance on renewables and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.”