Amazon is backing clean power projects in Europe and the US, as well as Australia, as part of its goal to reach 80% renewable energy by 2024 and 100% renewable energy by 2030, towards net zero carbon by 2040.
In addition to sourcing electricity from 60MW of solar capacity in New South Wales, Australia, Amazon will also be supplied with clean power from 122W of onshore wind in Vasternorrland, Sweden, expected online in 2022, and a new 50MW solar farm in Zaragoza, Spain, slated to begin operations in 2021.
Amazon’s newest solar project in the US will be a 65MW PV plant in Halifax County, Virginia.
Separately, Amazon also recently announced a new solar project in Pittsylvania County that will power Amazon’s new headquarters along with other Amazon-owned operations across the Commonwealth, including Whole Foods Markets and fulfilment centres.
Once complete, the four new Amazon renewable energy wind and solar projects will provide almost 300MW of capacity and approximately 840,000 megawatt hours of additional renewable capacity to the grids that supply energy to the company’s data centres.
To date, Amazon has launched 26 utility-scale wind and solar renewable energy projects that will generate over 2200MW of renewable capacity.
Amazon sustainability vice president Kara Hurst said: “We’re on a mission to meet the Paris Agreement 10 years early as part of The Climate Pledge commitment to be net zero carbon across our operations by 2040.
“These new renewable energy projects are part of our roadmap to 80% renewable energy by 2024 and 100% renewable energy by 2030.
“In addition to the environmental benefits inherently associated with running applications in the cloud, investing in renewable energy is a critical step toward addressing our carbon footprint globally.”