Amazon has announced 18 new utility-scale wind and solar energy projects across the US, Finland, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, taking its total of procured capacity to date in 2021 to 5600MW.
The retail giant said the move makes it 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.
The new projects in the US includes 1GW of utility-scale solar projects, with its first sites in Arizona and Georgia, and additional projects in Ohio, Texas, and Virginia.
In addition, Amazon has announced a 300MW solar project paired with 150MW energy storage in Arizona.
It will also add 158MW through four wind projects in Finland, bringing its total renewable energy portfolio across the Nordics to more than 950MW.
Amazon’s new solar project in Italy is the company’s third in the country, adding 40MW on top of the 66MW already enabled.
In Spain, Amazon’s four new solar projects together add more than 630MW to the grid.
A new wind project in Northern Ireland brings Amazon’s portfolio to 245MW on Ireland’s all-island grid and its total UK portfolio to more than 545MW of wind energy.
These new utility-scale wind and solar projects bring Amazon’s total committed renewable electricity production capacity to more than 12GW and 33,700 gigawatt hours (GWh) when the projects become fully operational.
The projects will supply renewable energy for Amazon’s corporate offices, fulfillment centres, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers that support millions of customers globally.
The projects will also help Amazon meet its commitment to produce the clean energy equivalent of the electricity used by all consumer Echo devices.
Amazon vice president of worldwide sustainability Kara Hurst said: “We are moving quickly and deliberately to reduce our carbon emissions and address the climate crisis.
“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.”