Amazon Adds 18 New RE Projects in Europe & US; Funds 274 Globally

E-commerce giant Amazon has announced 18 new utility-scale wind and solar energy projects across the U.S., Finland, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the U.K., totalling 5.6 gigawatts (GW) of procured capacity to date in 2021.

Amazon now has 274 renewable energy projects globally and aims to power 100% of its business operations with renewable energy by 2025.

These new utility-scale wind and solar projects bring Amazon’s total committed renewable electricity production capacity to more than 12 GW and 33,700 gigawatt hours (GWh) when the projects become fully operational, or electricity output equivalent to powering more than 3 million U.S. homes for a year.

The projects will supply renewable energy for Amazon’s corporate offices, fulfillment centers, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers that support millions of customers globally. The projects are also meant to help Amazon meet its commitment to produce the clean energy equivalent of the electricity used by all consumer Echo devices. The amount of clean energy produced by these projects is expected to avoid the equivalent of the annual emissions of nearly 3 million cars in the U.S. each year, or about 13.7 million metric tons.

“We are moving quickly and deliberately to reduce our carbon emissions and address the climate crisis,” said Kara Hurst, vice president of worldwide sustainability at Amazon. “Significant investments in renewable energy globally are an important step in delivering on The Climate Pledge, our commitment to reach net-zero carbon by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement. Renewable energy projects also bring new investment, green jobs, and advance the decarbonization of the electricity systems in communities around the world.”

Following this announcement, Amazon is the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the world, with 274 global projects including 105 utility-scale wind and solar projects and 169 solar rooftops on facilities and stores worldwide, said the company. The 18 new wind and solar projects include:

• Eight new projects across the U.S.: Amazon added more than 1 GW of utility-scale solar projects in the U.S., including Amazon’s first solar projects in Arizona and Georgia, and additional projects in Ohio, Texas, and Virginia. In total, Amazon has enabled more than 6 GW of renewable energy in the U.S. through 62 projects.
• A second solar project paired with energy storage: Based in Arizona, Amazon’s second solar project paired with energy storage enables the company to align solar generation with periods of the greatest demand, even when the sun is not shining. The 300-megawatt (MW) solar project is paired with a 150-MW battery energy storage system and brings Amazon’s battery storage projects to 220 MW.
• Four new renewable projects in the Nordics: Amazon added 158 MW through four wind projects in Finland, bringing its total renewable energy portfolio across the Nordics to more than 950 MW.
• Additional projects in Italy, Spain, and Northern Ireland: Amazon’s new solar project in Italy is the company’s third in the country, adding 40 MW on top of the 66 MW already enabled. In Spain, Amazon’s four new solar projects together add more than 630 MW to the grid. A new wind project in Northern Ireland brings Amazon’s portfolio to 245 MW on Ireland’s all-island grid and its total U.K. portfolio to more than 545 MW of wind energy. In total, Amazon has enabled more than 3.5 GW of renewable energy in Europe through 34 projects, making it the largest procurer of renewable energy in Europe.
  To see Amazon’s renewable energy projects around the world, visit our interactive map.

“For the second year in a row, Amazon has set new records as it works toward fully powering its operations with renewable energy by 2025, five years ahead of schedule,” said Miranda Ballentine, CEO of Clean Energy Buyers Association (CEBA). “Large-scale clean energy investments like these benefit us all and should be the new normal for industries of all shapes and sizes. They bring good-paying, green jobs to local communities and support progress toward our community’s goal of a 90% carbon-free U.S. electricity system.”

Amazon and Global Optimism co-founded The Climate Pledge in 2019. The Pledge now has more than 200 signatories, including Best Buy, IBM, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Siemens, Unilever, Verizon, and Visa.