Amazon’s three new renewable energy wind projects

12 April 2019
blog author

Amazon has revealed it is supporting three new environmental projects as part of its pledge to power all its web services global infrastructure with 100 percent renewable energy.

The online retailer’s latest renewable energy projects are in the United States, Ireland and Sweden, which will deliver wind-generated energy that will total more than 229 megawatts (MW) of power.

It expects to generate more than 670,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable energy annually and the projects form part of Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) long-term commitment. Last year, AWS exceeded 50 percent renewable energy for its global infrastructure.

The projects, combined with AWS’s previous nine renewable energy projects, are expected to generate more than 2,700,000 MWh of renewable energy annually once completed. This is the equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of more than 262,000 US homes – approximately the size of Nashville, Tennessee.

Peter DeSantis, vice president of global infrastructure and customer support at Amazon Web Services, said: “Each of these projects brings us closer to our long-term commitment to use 100 percent renewable energy to power our global AWS infrastructure.

“These projects are well-positioned to serve AWS data centers in Ireland, Sweden, and the US. We expect more projects in 2019 as we continue toward our goal of powering all AWS global infrastructure with renewable energy.”

Amazon will buy the energy from a new wind project in Ireland, a 91.2 MW wind farm in Donegal, which is expected to deliver clean energy no later than the end of 2021.
Amazon will also purchase 91 MW of power from a new wind farm in Bäckhammar, Sweden, which is expected to deliver renewable energy by the end of 2020.

AWS’s wind farm in the States is located in California’s Tehachapi Mountains which is expected to bring up to 47 MW of new renewable energy capacity by the end of 2020. The mountains contain some of the largest wind farms in the country.

Jerry Hill, California state senator, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, a member of the Senate Standing Committee on energy, utilities and communications, said: “This announcement from AWS is great news, not just for California, but for the entire country, as it reaffirms our role as a leader in renewable energy and allows us to take an important step forward on deploying the clean energy we need to respond to climate change.”