Amazon, the giant internet and retail company, announced this Wednesday it increased its renewable energy footprint. It added 18 new solar, wind, and storage projects around the world, but primarily located in the US, Finland, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
Firstly, the company is already the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the world. After the new projects, the company will have a total of 5,6 gigawatts of procured capacity in 2021. Globally, its renewable energy portfolio of projects includes more than 274; and is on a path to power 100% of its business operations with renewable energy by 2025.
Moreover, the new 18 projects bring Amazon’s total committed renewable electricity production capacity to more than 12 GW; and 33,700 gigawatt-hours (GWh) when the projects become fully operational. Such an amount would be equivalent to powering more than 3 million US homes for a year.
In addition, the clean energy output from the new projects will supply Amazon’s corporate offices, fulfillment centers, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers. It will also help to avoid the equivalent of the annual emissions of nearly 3 million cars in the US, annually, or about 13,7 million metric tons of CO2.
Also recommended for you: Deer Park sale to Pemex stalls, uncertainty on closing date: sources. Click here to read.
Amazon expanding solar + storage in the US
Kara Hurst, vice president of worldwide sustainability at Amazon, said about the matter. “Significant investments in renewable energy globally are an important step in delivering on The Climate Pledge, our commitment to reach net-zero carbon by 2040.”
Indeed, Amazon and Global Optimism co-founded The Climate Pledge in 2019. The Pledge now has more than 200 signatories, including Best Buy, IBM, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Siemens, Unilever, Verizon, and Visa.
On the other hand, the 18 new wind and solar projects announced today include eight new projects in the US. This would include solar projects in Arizona and Georgia and additional projects in Ohio, Texas, and Virginia.
Finally, specifically in Arizona, the company will have a second solar + energy storage project. It will be a 300MW solar, paired with 150MW of battery energy storage that will bring Amazon’s battery storage projects to 220 MW.
