Amazon to Invest in Scottish Wind Farm

The new investment in wind energy will make Amazon the largest corporate buyer of renewable electricity in Europe.

Amazon has announced that it will invest in a new wind farm in Scotland as part of a major new renewables push.

The 350-MW wind farm will be built off the east coast of Scotland and is set to come online in 2024. The wind farm is the UK’s largest corporate-backed renewable energy project.

With the addition of the new wind farm, Amazon will have invested in seven Scottish renewable energy projects.
In December last year, the company announced that it would invest in the Kennoxhead onshore wind project. Once it becomes operational in 2024, it will produce 129 MW of power, making it the largest single-site corporate power purchase agreement made in the UK at the time.

The US online retail giant aims to produce 100% of its electricity use from renewable energy sources by 2030. The company noted that the new projects will help it meet its target by 2025, ahead of its pledge to make its global operations net-zero by 2040.

“Amazon continues to scale up its investments in renewable energy as part of its effort to meet The Climate Pledge, our commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO.

“With these nine new wind and solar projects, we have announced 206 renewable wind and solar projects worldwide, and we are now the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in Europe and globally. Many parts of our business are already operating on renewable energy, and we expect to power all of Amazon with renewable energy by 2025—five years ahead of our original target of 2030.”
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In addition to the Scottish windfarm, the company will develop an additional eight utility-scale wind and solar energy projects, located in the US, Canada, Spain, Sweden

Including the newly announced projects, Amazon will source around 8.5 GW of renewable electricity. The electricity is used to power Amazon’s corporate offices and fulfilment centres, along with other ventures, including Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centres.

President and CEO of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) Gregory Wetstone noted: “Amazon continues to play a key role leading the corporate transition to renewable power worldwide and demonstrating that ambitious renewable targets are both achievable and widely beneficial.

“The company’s nine new clean energy projects bring them to an impressive record total of 8.5 gigawatts of global renewable capacity and include Amazon’s first solar plus storage project, using advanced technology to help deliver a clean, reliable grid.”