Amazon has announced three new renewable energy projects in the U.S. and U.K.
Amazon’s newest U.S. solar projects will be located in Warren County, N.C., and Prince George County, Va. Together, the projects total 215 MW and are expected to generate 500,997 MWh of energy annually. They represent Amazon’s second renewable energy project in North Carolina and eighth in Virginia.
In addition, the new Amazon Wind Farm located on Scotland’s Kintyre Peninsula will provide 50 MW of new renewable capacity, with an expected generation of 168,000 MWh annually. Amazon calls it the largest corporate wind power purchase agreement in the U.K.
“Today’s announcement by Amazon is another important step for North Carolina’s clean energy plan that will increase our reliance on renewables and reduce our greenhouse-gas emissions,” says Gov. Roy Cooper, D-N.C. “Not only is this the right thing to do for our planet, it’s the right thing to do for our economy. More clean energy jobs means better jobs for North Carolina families.”
“It’s wonderful to see the announcement of these new projects, helping bring more clean energy to the Commonwealth of Virginia, where Amazon is already recognized as a leader in bringing renewable energy projects online,” adds Gov. Ralph Northam, D-Va. “These solar farms help reaffirm the commonwealth’s role as a leading producer of clean energy in the U.S., helping take the nation forward in responding to climate change.”
These new projects support Amazon’s commitment to the recently announced Climate Pledge and its goals of reaching 80% renewable energy by 2024, 100% renewable energy by 2030 and net-zero carbon by 2040.
Once complete, the three new Amazon projects will provide 265 MW of additional renewable capacity. They are expected to begin producing energy in 2021, supplying energy to the company’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers, which power Amazon and millions of AWS customers globally.
To date, Amazon has launched 18 utility-scale wind and solar renewable energy projects that will generate over 1,600 MW of renewable capacity and deliver more than 4.6 million MWh of clean energy annually – enough to power 368,000 U.S. homes. Amazon has also installed more than 50 solar rooftops on fulfillment centers and sort centers around the globe that generate 98 MW of renewable capacity and deliver 130,000 MWh of clean energy annually.
“In addition to the environmental benefits inherently associated with running applications in the cloud, Amazon is committed to minimizing our carbon emissions and reaching 80 percent renewable energy use across the company by 2024,” says Kara Hurst, director of sustainability at Amazon. “We’ve announced eight projects this year and have more projects on the horizon – and we’re committed to investing in renewable energy as a critical step toward addressing our carbon footprint globally.”
