Amazon Announces 4 new Wind, Solar Projects in Australia, Europe and US

Amazon has announced four new wind and solar power projects in Australia, Spain, Sweden, and the US, worth a combined 300 MW capacity

E-commerce major Amazon has announced four new renewable energy – wind and solar power projects in Australia, Spain, Sweden, and the US that further support its commitment to reach 80 percent renewable energy by 2024 and 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 on the path to net-zero carbon by 2040.

The company is investing globally to enable new renewable energy projects as the company works towards net zero carbon by 2040. Its first renewable energy project in Australia is a 60 megawatt (MW) solar project anticipated to come online in 2021 in northern New South Wales. Once complete, the project is expected to generate 142,000-megawatt hours (MWh) of clean energy annually, which is equivalent to the annual electricity of almost 23,000 average Australian households.

The firms’ 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.

Its newest solar project in the US will be located in Halifax County, Virginia. The 65 MW solar project is expected to generate over 150,000 MWh of renewable energy annually and will be the firms’ 11th renewable energy project in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Separately, Amazon also recently announced a new solar project in Pittsylvania County that will power its new HQ2 headquarters along with other Amazon-owned operations across the Commonwealth, including Whole Foods Markets and fulfilment centres.

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 AWS data centres, which power Amazon and millions of AWS customers globally.

To date, the company has launched 26 utility-scale wind and solar renewable energy projects that will generate over 2,200 MW of renewable capacity and deliver more than 6.2 million MWh of clean energy annually – enough to power 560,000 U.S. homes. It has also installed more than 50 solar rooftops on fulfilment centres and sort centres around the globe that generate 122 MW of renewable capacity and deliver 193,000 MWh of clean energy annually.

“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 percent renewable energy by 2024 and 100 percent renewable energy by 2030,” said Kara Hurst, Vice President 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.”