This week, Amazon announced its latest renewable energy projects: the 65th and 66th for the company.
Both projects are expected to begin producing clean energy in 2020 and will supply clean energy to the company’s Amazon Web Services data centers, which power Amazon and millions of AWS customers globally.
One is a new wind farm in Cork, Ireland, and Amazon’s second wind project in the Republic of Ireland. Once complete, the new facility will provide 23.2 MW of renewable capacity, with expected generation of 68,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of clean energy annually.
Amazon’s newest renewable energy project in the U.S. will be located in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and will be the seventh solar farm in the Commonwealth of Virginia for the company. Once complete, the new Amazon Solar Farm will provide 45 MW of renewable capacity and is expected to generate 100,000 MWh of clean energy annually.
Additionally, Amazon’s investments in renewable energy were recently recognized in the Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA) 2018 Solar Means Business Report, which ranked Amazon #1 in the U.S. for amount of corporate on-site solar installed in 2018, and #2 for total amount of solar installed to date. Amazon’s solar projects in the U.S. have offset the CO2 equivalent of more than 200 million miles of truck deliveries.
“Playing a significant role in helping to reduce the sources of human-induced climate change is an important commitment for Amazon,” said Kara Hurst, Director of Sustainability, Amazon. “Major investments in renewable energy are a critical step to address our carbon footprint globally. We will continue to invest in these projects, and look forward to additional investments this year and beyond.”
Beyond investments in wind and solar, Amazon has a long history of commitment to sustainability through innovative programs such as Shipment Zero, Frustration-Free Packaging, Ships in Own Container, investments in the circular economy with the Closed Loop Fund, and numerous other initiatives happening every day by teams across Amazon. Amazon has also implemented the District Energy Project that uses recycled energy to heat and cool more than three million square-feet of office space.
Filed Under: News, Projects
