Amazon US announces 37 new renewable projects around world

They vary in project type and size, with three new wind farms, 26 new solar farms, and eight new rooftop solar installations at its buildings around the world. As a result of these projects, Amazon now has a total of 310 renewable energy projects, including 134 wind and solar farms and 176 rooftop solar projects. Once operational, Amazon’s 310 projects are expected to produce 42,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) of renewable energy each year—enough electricity output to power 3.9 million US homes annually. The carbon-free energy generated by these projects will also help avoid 17.3 million metric tons of carbon emissions annually, avoiding the equivalent of the annual emissions of more than 3.7 million cars in the US each year.

The new projects increase the capacity of Amazon’s renewable energy portfolio by nearly 30 per cent, from 12.2 gigawatts (GW) to 15.7 GW, and bring the total number of renewable energy projects to 310 across 19 countries. The additional 3.5 GW of clean energy capacity from these new projects extends Amazon’s leadership position as the world’s largest corporate buyer of renewable energy, and advances its efforts to meet The Climate Pledge, a commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040—10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement, Amazon said in a press release.

“Our commitment to protecting the planet and limiting Amazon’s impact on the environment has led us to become the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the world in both 2020 and 2021. Given the growth of our business, and our mission to run 100 per cent of Amazon’s operations on renewable energy, we aren’t slowing our renewable investments down,” said Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon. “We now have 310 wind and solar projects across 19 countries, and are working hard to reach our goal of powering 100 per cent of our business on renewable energy by 2025—five years ahead of our original target of 2030.”

Amazon also continues to invest in renewable energy projects paired with energy storage. The energy storage systems allow Amazon to store clean energy produced by its solar projects and deploy it when solar energy is not available, such as in the evening hours, or during periods of high demand. This strengthens the climate impact of Amazon’s clean energy portfolio by enabling carbon-free electricity throughout more parts of the day. The new projects include a 300-megawatt (MW) solar project paired with 150 MW of battery storage in Arizona and a 150 MW solar project paired with 75 MW of battery storage in California. Combined, the two projects double Amazon’s total announced solar paired with energy storage from 220 MW to 445 MW.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RR)