Amazon invests in renewable energy for Mississippi data centers
Amazon is building solar and wind farms across Mississippi.
In January 2024, the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing division of Amazon announced that it plans to invest $10 billion to build two data center complexes in Madison County, Miss., marking the single largest capital investment in the state’s history.
Now, Amazon is entering a first-of-its-kind deal with local utility company Entergy to enable 650 megawatts of new renewable energy projects in Mississippi over the next three years. This capacity will help power Amazon’s local operations and provide funding for future upgrades to local grid and energy infrastructure over the next two decades.
Amazon is poised to enable a total of 1.3 gigawatts of new carbon-free energy in Mississippi through a combination of new solar and wind farms being built across the state. According to Amazon, the projects will produce the energy equivalent to powering 303,000 U.S. homes and provide new sources of carbon-free energy to the grid, while providing power to its local data centers, stores, and fulfillment centers.
These additional projects include Delta Wind, the state’s first utility-scale wind farm along the Mississippi Delta. In addition, as part of its global cloud computing training initiative, AWS will build a first-of-its-kind training center in Mississippi to support careers in cloud computing infrastructure with AWS.
The new Amazon Community Workforce Accelerator Madison County will feature an assortment of workforce development programming targeted at roles inside and outside of AWS data centers and learning labs.
It also includes equipment and support for practicing data center and networking/fiber skills, community gathering spaces, and other support, including interview coaching and mentoring.
"Our commitment to the Magnolia State is multi-dimensional," said Kevin Miller, AWS VP of global data centers. in a corporate blog post. "In addition to the direct benefits of new, technical jobs and local investment, we’re excited to partner with local community colleges and schools to accelerate local talent development, deliver new programs to educate people of all ages, and have plans to help sponsor important local events. Amazon is the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy, and we’re excited to partner in delivering 650 megawatts of new solar energy projects to help power our operations in Mississippi."