Amazon Continues Renewable Energy Investments with Wind and Solar Projects in Australia, Europe, and the US

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced four new renewable energy projects in Australia, Spain, Sweden, and the US that further support Amazon’s commitment to reach 80% renewable energy by 2024 and 100% renewable energy by 2030 on path to net zero carbon by 2040.

Amazon is investing globally to enable new renewable energy projects as the company works towards net zero carbon by 2040. Amazon’s first renewable energy project in Australia is a 60 megawatt (MW) solar project anticipated to come online in 2021 in northern New South Wales. Once complete, the project is expected to generate 142,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of clean energy annually, which is equivalent to the annual electricity of almost 23,000 average Australian households.

Amazon’s newest renewable energy projects in Europe include 122 MW from an onshore wind project in Västernorrland, Sweden, expected to come online 2022, and a new 50 MW solar farm in Zaragoza, Spain, expected to begin operations in 2021. Once enabled, these projects have the capacity to power the equivalent of 158,000 average European homes each year.

Amazon’s newest solar project in the US will be located in Halifax County, Virginia. The 65 MW solar project is expected to generate over 150,000 MWh of renewable energy annually and will be Amazon’s 11th renewable energy project in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Separately, Amazon also recently announced a new solar project in Pittsylvania County that will power Amazon’s new HQ2 headquarters along with other Amazon-owned operations across the Commonwealth, including Whole Foods Markets and fulfillment centers. More information about the 82-megawatt project can be found on the AmazonDay One blog: https://blog.aboutamazon.com/sustainability/powering-hq2-with-100-renewable-energy.

Once complete, the four new Amazon renewable energy wind and solar projects will provide almost 300 MW and approximately 840,000 MWh of additional renewable capacity to the grids that supply energy to the company’s AWS data centers, which power Amazon and millions of AWS customers globally.

To date, Amazon has launched 26 utility-scale wind and solar renewable energy projects that will generate over 2,200 MW of renewable capacity and deliver more than 6.2 million MWh of clean energy annually – enough to power 560,000 U.S. homes. Amazon has also installed more than 50 solar rooftops on fulfillment centers and sort centers around the globe that generate 122 MW of renewable capacity and deliver 193,000 MWh of clean energy annually.

“We’re on a mission to meet the Paris Agreement 10 years early as part of The Climate Pledge commitment to be net zero carbon across our operations by 2040. These new renewable energy projects are part of our roadmap to 80% renewable energy by 2024 and 100% renewable energy by 2030,” said Kara Hurst, Vice President of Sustainability, Amazon. “In addition to the environmental benefits inherently associated with running applications in the cloud, investing in renewable energy is a critical step toward addressing our carbon footprint globally.”

“I applaud Amazon for their investment in renewable energy projects in the Commonwealth of Virginia,” said Virginia Congressman Denver Riggleman. “This solar energy project will generate 65 megawatts of renewable energy, which will create clean jobs for the region.”

To track progress toward these goals, Amazon launched a 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 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 and led by teams across Amazon.
https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-continues-renewable-energy-investments-wind-and-solar

Related Posts

Experts Anticipate Significant Continued Reductions in Wind Energy Costs

Technology advancements are expected to continue to drive down the cost of wind energy, according to a survey of the world's foremost wind power experts led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Experts anticipate cost reductions of 24%-30% by 2030 and 35%-41% by 2050, under a median or 'best guess' scenario, driven by bigger and more efficient turbines, lower capital and operating costs, and other advancements.

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Almost Reaching our New Goal

Elections matter. New administrations bring new policies and new approaches to environmental and energy issues, including those regarding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction. While policies may have changed, our members are continuing to make voluntary strides to reduce their GHG emissions as part of their overall sustainability and efficiency programs. Many customers continue to prefer products that are manufactured from a renewable and recyclable resource—wood fiber—and that use renewable energy in the manufacturing process. Having a renewable and recyclable resource as the foundation of the industry enables our members’ pulp and paper mills to meet, on average, about 66.6 percent of their energy demand from renewable biomass energy, avoiding greater use of fossil fuels and the associated GHG emissions that result from their combustion. Click Read More below for additional information.

ANDRITZ successfully starts up biomass boiler plant at Vattenfall AB, Uppsala, Sweden

The heating plant is located on Vattenfall’s existing combined heat and power plant site in Uppsala, Sweden, some 70 km north of Stockholm. This new plant supplies more than 110 MW of district heat to the Uppsala area and is also prepared for electricity production at a later stage. The fuel for the new plant comprises different kinds of wood-based biomass, such as recycled wood, bark, wood chips, and sawdust. The ANDRITZ scope of supply included biomass receiving, handling and storage silos, a biomass-fired boiler with flue gas cleaning, and a flue gas condenser. The boiler is based on the ANDRITZ EcoFluid bubbling fluidized bed design, which combines high efficiency with excellent environmental performance. Flue gas emissions are reduced to very low levels, with the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) method for NOx emissions and a baghouse filter, including sorbent feeding, for sulfur dioxide (SO2), hydrochloric acid (HCl), heavy metals, and dust emissions. The flue gas condenser significantly increases the district heat output and, therefore, improves plant efficiency to beyond 110% when calculated using the fuel lower heating value.
Back To Top
×Close search
Search