AES to provide 450 MW renewable energy to Amazon

Virginia, US based AES Corporation has announced that it has entered into two renewable energy Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with global e-commerce and cloud giant Amazon. As part of the agreements, AES will deliver renewable energy in the CAISO (California Independent System Operator) market and source it from a combined 450 MW of solar and 225 MW, 4-hour duration battery energy storage from its portfolio of projects1. AES has contracted with Fluence to supply energy storage solutions for one of the projects.

As per the official statement by AES, these projects will help Amazon stay on path to power its global operations with 100 per cent renewable energy by 2025 which is five years ahead of its original 2030 target. Amazon wants to reach net zero carbon by 2040. The e-commerce company is the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy. Server farms required to maintain cloud services are notorious energy guzzlers, making the case for large cloud firms like Amazon, Google and Microsoft to seek reneweable energy to power them.

Amazon has a target to be 100% renewable driven by 2025, and net zero by 2040.

Andrés Gluski, AES President and CEO, said “AES is proud to support Amazon’s bold actions to power its business operations, including its AWS data centers, with 100% renewable energy. Together with Amazon, we’re showing how customized energy solutions and innovative thinking can help organizations of all kinds to decarbonize their operations and the grid.”

AES claims that through collaboration with its customers to help meet their unique energy commitments and outcomes, the company signed nearly 5 GW of new PPAs globally in 2021 and was ranked by BNEF as the top developer selling clean energy to corporations through PPAs.

The 450 MW solar and 225 MW, 4-hour duration energy storage additions were incorporated as part of AES’ 5 GW of new PPAs in 2021.

Amazon is the largest renewable energy purchaser in the world since 2020 and it had recently announced that it is investing in 37 new renewable energy projects across the globe adding up to 3.5 GW. The new projects will include 26 solar power projects, 3 wind energy farms and 8 rooftop solar projects at Amazon buildings around the world.