Amazon has taken a giant leap towards making their operations 100% renewable with the installation of 26 onsite solar systems and 5 large-scale energy projects in the UK. With an impressive capacity to produce over 560 MW, it will provide the clean power equivalent of 600,000 British homes every year—welcomed news at such an important time for global sustainability efforts.
We’ve seen examples of systems such as Amazon fulfilment in Tilbury powered by a 3.4MW solar system in recent years. This is often echoed by installers citing projects across Amazon rooftops across the UK at varying stages of development or operation.
In what is being hailed as a major milestone, Amazon has announced that its renewable energy capacity skyrocketed to 8.3 gigawatts (GW)in 2022 through 133 new projects across 11 countries! This pushes the company’s incredible total portfolio to more than 20 GW—enough to power tens of millions of homes around the world from 401 projects in 22 countries. With these ground-breaking investments and purchases, not only does Amazon lead as largest corporate buyer of renewable energy but also set an impressive record for most renewables announced by any one single corporation last year - cementing their environmentally-friendly commitment worldwide.
The purchases also bring Amazon closer to powering its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025—five years head of its original 2030 target. With 25 new renewable energy projects secured to close out the year, the company now has 401 projects globally, including 164 wind farms and solar farms, and 237 rooftop solar projects on Amazon facilities. Once operational, Amazon’s global renewable energy projects are expected to generate 56,881 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of clean energy each year.
“As we continue to launch new renewable energy projects around the world, we’re pleased to be on-track to power our operations with 100% renewable energy, five years ahead of our original target. With 133 projects in 11 countries announced in 2022,Amazon had another record year,” - Adam Selipsky, CEO of AWS.
In addition to the 108 clean energy projects the company announced in 2022, Amazon has announced 25 additional 2022 clean energy projects including 11 in the UK and Europe, totalling 372MW.
"Amazon's clean energy portfolio doesn't just top the corporate charts - it is now among the leading utilities globally as well,” said Kyle Harrison, head of sustainability research at Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “The fact that it announced a new annual record of clean energy in a year mired by a global energy crisis, supply chain bottlenecks and high interest rates speaks to its forward planning and expertise in navigating power markets and executing long-term contracts."
Photos by Christian Wiediger (Unsplash) and The Daily Mail.
