Amazon commits to four new global renewable energy projects

Amazon’s latest sustainability venture includes solar and wind installations in the U.S., Europe, and Australia. 

Amazon’s newest solar project in the U.S. will be located in Halifax County, Virginia. The 65 megawatt (MW) solar project is expected to generate over 150,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable energy annually and will be Amazon’s 11th renewable energy project in Virginia.

Amazon’s newest renewable energy projects in Europe include 122 MW from an onshore wind project in Västernorrland, Sweden, expected to come online 2022; and a new 50 MW solar farm in Zaragoza, Spain, expected to begin operations in 2021. Once enabled, these projects have the capacity to power the equivalent of 158,000 average European homes each year.

The e-tail giant’s first renewable energy project in Australia is a 60 MW solar project anticipated to come online in 2021 in northern New South Wales. Once complete, the project is expected to generate 142,000 MWh of clean energy annually, which is equivalent to the annual electricity of almost 23,000 average Australian households. 
 
Once complete, the four new Amazon renewable energy wind and solar projects will provide almost 300 MW and approximately 840,000 MWh of additional renewable capacity to the grids that supply energy to the company’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers, which power Amazon and millions of AWS customers globally.

Amazon is investing globally to enable new renewable energy projects as the company works towards reaching 80% renewable energy by 2024 and 100% renewable energy by 2030, on path to net zero carbon by 2040.

“We’re on a mission to meet the Paris Agreement 10 years early as part of The Climate Pledge commitment to be net zero carbon across our operations by 2040. These new renewable energy projects are part of our roadmap to 80% renewable energy by 2024 and 100% renewable energy by 2030,” said Kara Hurst, VP of sustainability, Amazon. “In addition to the environmental benefits inherently associated with running applications in the cloud, investing in renewable energy is a critical step toward addressing our carbon footprint globally.”

To date, Amazon has launched 26 utility-scale wind and solar renewable energy projects that it says will generate over 2,200 MW of renewable capacity and deliver more than 6.2 million MWh of clean energy. Amazon has also installed more than 50 solar rooftops on fulfillment centers and sort centers around the globe that generate 122 MW of renewable capacity and deliver 193,000 MWh of clean energy annually.

To track progress toward these goals, Amazon launched a website to report on its sustainability commitments, initiatives, and performance.