Amazon Announces 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
Projects will support Amazon’s commitment to The Climate Pledge to be net zero carbon by 2040 and supply renewable energy to the company’s Amazon Web Services data centers that support Amazon and millions of AWS customers globally
Amazon’s first renewable energy project in Scotland, second in North Carolina, and eighth in the Commonwealth of Virginia - combined, are expected to produce 265 MW of additional renewable capacity and approximately 670,000 MWh of energy annually, or enough to power more than 62,000 homes
Globally, Amazon has nearly 70 renewable energy projects that have the capacity to generate over 1,600 MW and deliver more than 4.6 million MWh of energy annually
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced three new renewable energy projects in the US and UK that support Amazon’s commitment to The Climate Pledge and reaching 80% renewable energy by 2024 and 100% renewable energy target by 2030 on its path to net zero carbon by 2040.
Major investments in renewable energy are a critical step toward addressing Amazon’s carbon footprint globally, and 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.
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 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% 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,” said Kara Hurst, Director of Sustainability, Amazon. “With nearly 70 renewable energy projects around the globe – including 54 solar rooftops – we are making significant progress towards reaching Amazon’s company-wide commitment to reach 100% renewable energy by 2030.”
“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,” said Paul Wheelhouse, MSP, Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands, Scotland. “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.”
“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.”
“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,” said Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. “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.”
“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.”
To track progress toward these goals, Amazon launched a new transparency website to report on its sustainability commitments, initiatives, and performance. The site includes information on Amazon’s carbon footprint and other sustainability metrics that share the progress the company is making towards reaching The Climate Pledge. The new goals, commitments, investments, and programs build on Amazon’s long-term commitment to sustainability through existing innovative programs, including Shipment Zero – Amazon’s vision to make all shipments net zero carbon, with 50% net zero carbon by 2030; sustainable packaging initiatives like Frustration-Free Packaging and Ship in Own Container, which have reduced packaging waste by 25% since 2015; renewable energy programs; investments in the circular economy with the Closed Loop Fund; and numerous other initiatives happening every day by teams across Amazon.
Visit https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/ to view the company’s new sustainability report and learn more.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.
About Amazon Web Services
For 13 years, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud platform. AWS offers over 165 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, robotics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), media, and application development, deployment, and management from 69 Availability Zones (AZs) within 22 geographic regions, spanning the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Middle East, Singapore, Sweden, and the UK. Millions of customers—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies—trust AWS to power their infrastructure, become more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit aws.amazon.com.
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