First renewable energy project in Shandong, China.
Technology company Amazon has hit the ground running with its first first renewable energy project in China is a 100 megawatt (MW) solar project in Shandong, China.
Once completed the project is expected to generate 128,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of clean energy annually.
The project in Shandong is a part of five renewable energy projects announced today that further support Amazon’s commitment to reach “80 per cent renewable energy by 2024 and 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030—potentially as early as 2025—as well as to reach net zero carbon by 2040”.
Kara Hurst vice president of Sustainability Amazon said as a signatory to “The Climate Pledge”, its committed to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement 10 years early and reaching net zero carbon across Amazon by 2040.
“These five new renewable energy projects are a critical part of our roadmap to reach this goal,” she said. “In fact, we believe it is possible to reach 100 per cent renewable energy by 2025, five years ahead of the goals we announced last fall. While this will be challenging, we have a credible plan to get there.”
Amazon’s second renewable energy project in Australia is a 105 MW solar project in New South Wales. This project will have the capacity to generate 250,000 MWh of clean energy each year, which is enough to power the equivalent of 40,000 average Australian homes.
The latest renewable energy projects in the US include two projects in Ohio, a 200 MW solar project and an 80 MW solar project.
Additionally, a new 130 MW solar project in Virginia brings the total number of renewable energy projects in the Commonwealth to 12. Once enabled, these three U.S.-based projects have the capacity to power the equivalent of 69,000 average U.S. homes each year.
Hurst said when complete, the five Amazon renewable energy projects will total 615 MW of installed capacity. This will supply approximately 1.2 million MWh of additional renewable energy to the grids that supply the company’s fulfilment network and Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centres, which power Amazon and millions of customers globally.
To date, Amazon has announced 31 utility-scale wind and solar renewable energy projects and 60 solar rooftops on fulfilment centres and sort centres around the globe. Together, these projects totalling over 2,900 MW of capacity will deliver more than 7.6 million MWh of renewable energy annually, enough to power 680,000 US homes.
