Amazon to Purchase Clean Energy From 3 New Wind Farms

Amazon has announced three new renewable energy projects currently under development in Ireland, Sweden and the U.S., as part of the company’s goal to power the entire Amazon Web Services global infrastructure. Last year, AWS exceeded 50 percent of renewable energy for its global infrastructure.

The projects is set to deliver wind-generated energy upwards of 229 megawatts of power, with an expected generation of more than 670,000-megawatt hours of clean energy per year. These projects, combined with AWS’s nine existing facilities, are estimated to generate more than 2.7-gigawatt hours of renewable energy yearly. This is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of more than 262,000 U.S. homes, comparable in size to Nashville, Tenn. 

Growing renewable fleet

Amazon will buy the energy from the 91.2-megawatt wind farm in Donegal County, Ireland. The project is slated for completion in 2021. Another 91 megawatts of power will come from a new wind farm in Bäckhammar, Sweden, a project anticipated to begin commercial operation by the end of 2020.

“This is a significant step in Sweden’s renewable energy production as we work toward our target of 100 percent renewable energy by 2040,” stated Sweden’s Minister for energy and digital development Anders Ygeman.

The U.S. wind project will be located in California’s Tehachapi Mountains, a site that is home to some of the largest wind farms in the country. This project is expected to bring up to 47 megawatts of renewable energy capacity by the end of 2020.

Amazon’s sustainability program includes Amazon Wind Farm Texas, a 253-megawatt facility built by Lincoln Clean Energy, which adds more than 1 million megawatt hours of clean energy to the grid annually. The retailer’s renewable fleet includes 53 wind and solar projects worldwide so far, which combined produce more than 1,016 megawatts and are expected to deliver some 3,076-gigawatt hours of energy per year. In addition, these projects support hundreds of jobs, while providing tens of millions of dollars of investment in local communities.

The retail giant’s renewable ambitions include hosting solar energy systems at 50 fulfillment centers by 2020, a goal that is part of a long-term initiative that will start in North America and is slated to expand across the globe. Furthermore, Amazon recently announced Shipment Zero—the company’s vision to make all its shipments net zero carbon, with 50 percent of all shipments net zero by 2030.