Amazon hails dozens of new renewable energy projects in Europe

The business was the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in 2022. It purchased 10.9GW of clean power, partly through tariffs and partly via Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with the developers of energy generation projects.

Building on this success, it has today announced that it has supported the development of 39 new renewable energy generation projects across Europe since the start of this year.

Collectively, these projects have already added more than 1GW of capacity. Once all Amazon-backed renewable projects across the continent are fully operational, they will collectively exceed 5.8GW of capacity.

The 39 new additions include 15 rooftop solar installations on Amazon’s own facilities in Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK.

Additionally, through PPAs, Amazon has supported 24 utility-scale wind and solar projects so far this year.

Earlier this month, the company confirmed the opening of a new 16MW onshore wind farm in Northern Ireland, developed by Ørsted. The seven-turbine wind farm is the first renewable energy project to be delivered under a corporate PPA in Northern Ireland.

Amazon has also this year supported utility-scale renewable projects in Finland, Germany, Greece, Spain and Sweden.

“Corporate investment is an important catalyst to help transition toward a clean energy future, and we look forward to continuing to work with governments, local communities, and energy providers across Europe to deliver more renewable energy into local grids,” said Amazon’s director of energy for the EMEA region, Lindsay McQuade.

Amazon is targeting 100% renewable electricity use in its EMEA operations by 2025. At present, the proportion is around 90%.

Other businesses to have signed renewable PPAs in Europe so far this year include telecommunications giant Vodafone and, fashion retailer H&M Group and supermarket Iceland Foods.