Amazon making “significant progress” towards its sustainability pledge
Amazon has announced three new renewable energy projects in the US and UK to support Amazon’s pledge to reach 80% renewable energy by 2024 and 100% renewable energy by 2030.
Amazon’s newest renewable energy project in Europe will be the largest corporate wind power purchase agreement (PPA) in the UK, located on the Kintyre Peninsula, Scotland. Once complete, the new Amazon Wind Farm will provide 50 megawatts (MW) of new renewable capacity with expected generation of 168,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of clean energy annually, enough to power 46,000 UK homes.
Amazon’s newest renewable energy solar projects in the US will be located in Warren County, North Carolina, and Prince George County, Virginia. Together, they total 215 MW and are expected to generate 500,997 MWh of energy annually. This will be Amazon’s second renewable energy project in the state of North Carolina and eighth renewable energy project in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Kara Hurst, Director of Sustainability, Amazon comments: “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% renewable energy use across the company by 2024. 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.”
Paul Wheelhouse, MSP, Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands, Scotland said: “Agreements like this Power Purchase Agreement speak volumes of the levels of confidence from major employers and business across all sectors in Scotland’s renewable energy infrastructure.”
“In 2018 Scotland was able to achieve a record level of renewable energy generation, with revised data showing that 76.3% of Scotland’s electricity demand was met from renewable sources, and onshore wind energy alone was capable of meeting more than 50% of Scotland’s gross electricity demand. These fantastic figures illustrate the importance of onshore wind in our current energy mix, as a highly cost effective source of generation, but also the leading role it will play in meeting our future energy needs, too,” he added.
“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,” said North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. “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.”
“I applaud Amazon’s continued leadership in the Commonwealth and commitment to sustainability,” said Congressman Donald McEachin. “Renewable energy projects like the Fort Powhatan solar farm will make our communities safer and healthier while creating the advanced energy jobs that are essential to helping us address climate change.”
Once complete, the three new Amazon renewable energy wind and solar projects will provide 265 MW of additional renewable capacity and are expected to begin producing energy in 2021, supplying energy to the company’s Amazon Web Services data centres, which power Amazon and millions of AWS customers globally.
