Amazon’s Portfolio Can Power 7.2 million US Homes Each Year: Report

Amazon's Portfolio Can Power 7.2 million U.S. Homes Each Year: Report

Amazon, a corporate company in the United States (US) invested in more than 100 new solar and wind energy projects in 2023, becoming the one of the corporate purchasers of renewable energy for the fourth year in a row.

Amazon claims these investments include the company’s first brownfield project—which will repurpose a previously polluted Maryland coal mine site into a solar farm—as well as Amazon’s first renewable energy project in South Korea.

The company now has more than 500 wind and solar projects globally, and once operational, they are expected to generate more than 77,000 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of clean energy each year, or enough to power 7.2 million US homes.

In India, Amazon accelerated its clean energy investments over the past year and announced seven utility-scale renewable energy projects in the country since September 2022, including a 198-megawatt (MW) wind farm in Osmanabad. The company also invested in dozens of solar projects on the rooftops of local Amazon facilities, making Amazon one of the large corporate purchaser of renewables in India, according to BloombergNEF and publicly available data, with a total of 1.1 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy capacity purchased to date across India.

Amazon’s solar and wind farms have also helped generate more than $12 billion in estimated economic investment globally from 2014 through 2022 and supported 39,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs in 2022 alone, according to a new economic model developed by Amazon.

“Amazon’s investments in solar and wind projects are helping power our operations, while also providing new sources of clean energy to the grid, spurring economic growth, and supporting jobs in the communities where our customers live and work,” said Adam Selipsky, CEO of AWS. “More than 90% of our operations were powered by renewables last year, but we’re not done. We’re focused on continuing to find innovative ways to bring new projects online, address grid constraints, and work with policymakers to mitigate the impacts of climate change, all of which is helping Amazon move closer to achieving 100% renewable energy by 2025.”

“Amazon’s renewable energy investments continue to bring new solar and wind projects to market at a rapid pace and cement the company as a global leader in this space,” said Kyle Harrison, head of sustainability research at BloombergNEF. “Despite supply chain challenges, infrastructure hurdles, and rising prices over the past year, Amazon’s continued renewable commitments demonstrate how a corporation can help accelerate society’s transition to a clean energy future.”

Converting a coal mine site from brownfield to solar farm

Amazon recently announced its first renewable energy project built on a brownfield—land that has been abandoned due to industrial pollution. Amazon Solar Farm Maryland–CPV Backbone is being built on the site of the recently closed Arch Coal Mine in Garrett County, Maryland. The 120-year-old mining site was previously contaminated with more than 45 acres of coal refuse, which has since been reclaimed.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that there are more than 450,000 brownfields in the U.S., which is an emerging opportunity for solar energy projects. Brownfields—which can include abandoned factories, mines, or landfills—are often located near power lines and public roads, making it easier to connect a project to the grid and turn unused land into an economic opportunity for local communities.