Amazon unveils plans for more than 70 new renewable energy generation projects

Image: Amazon UK

The new projects, announced publicly for the first time today (21 September), bring Amazon’s total portfolio of projects in operation or under development to 379 projects. Collectively, these projects have a capacity of 18.5GW.

More than 100 of the projects are in Europe, including 25 on-site solar projects in the UK. Seven of these are newly announced today. Locations set to install on-site solar are Redditch, Swindon, Birmingham, Orpington, Ossett, Liverpool and Warrington. Once these arrays are installed, Amazon will operate 18MW of on-site solar capacity in the UK.

Other European renewable energy projects announced by the e-commerce giant include its first rooftop solar projects in France and Austria, and its first solar farm in Poland.

SolarPower Europe’s chief executive Walburga Hemetsberger called the new projects a “landmark”. She added: “As Europe faces skyrocketing energy prices, solar and renewable energy deals will strengthen Amazon’s strategic resilience—we hope to see more companies follow Amazon’s lead.”

Global picture

Amazon is the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy and is aiming to power all operations with 100% renewable electricity by 2025. During 2021, it achieved a proportion of 85% globally.

The firm is notably a member of the Climate Group’s RE100 initiative, which connects businesses committed to procuring 100% renewable energy in a bid to improve collaboration and communication, and to send stronger market signals to the energy sector and to policymakers. It is also a member of the the Clean Energy Buyers Institute’s (CEBI) Beyond the Megawatt initiative, which aims to help energy developers and buyers deliver projects while maximising their positive economic and social impact.

Among the new projects announced by Amazon today are three large solar projects in Rajasthan, India, totalling 420MW of capacity; two solar projects in Louisiana, USA and a 122MW solar farm in Brazil.

RE100 stated back in January that a third of businesses participating are facing challenges meeting their goals due to a lack of policy support. These barriers were most prevalent in Asia and were reported mainly by businesses with headquarters or operations in Japan, South Korea or China. Other nations where businesses reported barriers to procurement included Russia, Saudi Arabia and Australia.