Amazon’s first operational wind farm outside of the US is now operational in Sweden.
The 91MW Bäckhammar project in Western Sweden will power Amazon’s AWS data centres and expanding retail business in the country.
It marks the first in a series of the company’s utility-scale renewables projects due to begin delivering clean energy to grids across Europe this year.
The second is a 122MW onshore wind farm in Västernorrland, which is expected to be operational in 2022.
In total, these projects will add 213MW of new clean energy to the Swedish grid, Amazon said.
The two sites in Sweden are part of the eight renewables projects – six wind and two solar – designed to supply clean energy to the electricity grids that serve AWS data centres and other Amazon facilities.
Projects in Ireland and Spain are due to come online later this year.
They will all deliver clean energy into the grids through unsubsidised Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (CPPAs).
The wind farm’s launch takes Amazon one step closer to meeting its target of being powered by 100% renewable energy by 2025.
It also hopes to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040, ten years ahead of the Paris Agreement.
Amazon Energy director Nat Sahlstrom said: “Our wind farm in Bäckhammar is a significant milestone in our journey towards powering our operations with 100% renewable energy.
“We’re delighted that the project has started to produce clean energy.
“In the past, subsidies have often been used to help develop the renewable industry, to ensure the technology can compete with fossil fuels.
“With projects like Bäckhammar we are showing it’s possible to add new renewable capacity without subsidy to the grid where we operate, and reduce CO2 emissions.”