Amazon says it has become the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy with the addition of 26 new utility-scale wind and solar projects around the world.
Amazon’s renewables offtake deals now cover 6.5GW of clean electricity production capacity around the world, spanning 127 wind and solar projects in total.
The latest power purchase agreements signed by the online retailer are with wind and solar farms located in Australia, France, Germany, Italy, South Africa, Sweden, the UK, and the US.
They include a 250MW offtake agreement with Orsted for the planned 900MW Riffgrund 3 offshore wind farm off Germany.
Other notable PPAs include the 129MW Kennoxhead wind farm in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, to be completed in two phases, in 2022 and 2024.
Kennoxhead will be Amazon’s largest single site CPPA in the UK.
Amazon said the latest batch of PPAs advances its commitment to being net zero carbon by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement.
The 26 projects will supply renewable energy for Amazon’s corporate offices, fulfilment centres, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centres.
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said: “Amazon is helping fight climate change by moving quickly to power our businesses with renewable energy.
“With a total of 127 solar and wind projects, Amazon is now the biggest corporate buyer of renewable energy ever.
“We are on a path to running 100% of our business on renewable energy by 2025-five years ahead of our original target of 2030. This is just one of the many steps we’re taking that will help us meet our Climate Pledge.
“I couldn’t be more proud of all the teams across Amazon that continue to work hard, smart, and fast to get these projects up and running.”
The announcement falls in the week of RE-Source 2020, the annual gathering of renewable energy buyers and sellers organised by WindEurope and SolarPower Europe.