Amazon has added 39 renewable energy projects in Europe so far this year, the e-commerce giant announced.
The projects have created more than 1 gigawatt of clean energy capacity to grids across Europe, and once all projects are operational, Amazon expects a total capacity of 5.8 gigawatts of energy. That amount of energy can power more than 4.7 million European homes annually. In total, Amazon has enabled more than 160 wind and solar projects across 13 European countries.
The announcement comes amid a slew of projects across the globe that aim to bring countries closer to their clean energy goals by 2030 and beyond. Recently, California and New York made new investments and increased energy storage capacity, while more than 130 global companies teamed up to ask COP28 leaders to prioritize phasing out fossil fuels ahead of the November United Nations meeting.
Amazon is also one of the companies that will receive U.S. government funding to build hydrogen hubs to develop clean hydrogen.
Amazon has become one of the largest purchasers of renewable energy in the world over the past couple of years, and the conglomerate is also a major buyer of carbon capture and storage. In fact, with its projects over the past several years, Amazon has become Europe’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy since 2021. As one of the largest companies in the world, it is also a major energy consumer, and its efforts in Europe have enabled the transition to clean energy in regions.
In its new wave of projects, Amazon will add 15 rooftop solar installations on Amazon facilities and 24 utility-scale wind and solar projects, including its first solar farm in Greece. The company also added its first utility-scale solar farm in Poland last year.
“With more than 160 wind and solar projects in Europe, Amazon is helping to provide new sources of clean energy to local grids, creating jobs, and supporting local businesses as we progress toward powering our operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025,” Lindsay McQuade, Director of Energy, EMEA at Amazon, said in a blog post. “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.”
Projects in the region have “helped generate an estimated €2.4 billion ($2.9 billion) in investment in Europe and helped to contribute more than €723 million ($878 million) to the region’s gross domestic product” between 2014 and 2022, the company said. In 2022, the projects also supported 3,900 full-time jobs.
The company noted it is on a path to power all its operations, including its powerhouse business Amazon Web Services data centers, fulfillment centers, and physical stores, with 100% renewable energy by 2025. That’s five years ahead of its original 2030 target. The company also said 90% of electricity consumed by Amazon globally was powered by renewable energy sources.
