Amazon has had a long-term goal to use 100% renewable energy to power their global Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure, including the AWS data centers globally. This commitment was put into effect in November 2014. AWS is committed to running its business as most environmentally friendly as possible. Last year in 2018, AWS exceeded 50% renewable energy usage.
Recently in April 2019, AWS announced three new renewable projects, in three countries – one each in Ireland, Sweden and the United States. These projects combined will deliver wind-generated energy that will total over 229 megawatts (MW) of power, with expected generation of 670,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable energy annually.
These three new projects, combined with AWS’s existing nine renewable energy projects, are expected to generate enough renewable energy to power the city of Nashville, Tennessee, or 947 megawatts of power, which is equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 262,000 U.S. homes, which approximately equates to around 2.7 Million MWh of renewable energy annually. AWS data centers in Ireland, Sweden, and the U.S. stand to benefit from these three new projects.
Just like AWS, Sweden as a country also has its goal to use 100 percent renewable energy, and they expect to achieve this goal by 2040. Sweden has been a leader in the Nordic region when it comes to renewable energy. In 2012, Norway and Sweden reached a joint agreement to increase their production of electricity from renewable sources by 28.4 terawatt hours (TWh) by 2020. Sweden also has a target of net zero emissions of greenhouse gases by 2045. Amazon will also purchase 91 MW of power from a new wind farm in BКckhammar, Sweden, which is expected to deliver renewable energy by the end of 2020.
In the United States, California leads the renewable electricity generation from non-hydroelectric sources. The state’s Tehachapi Mountains, where AWS’s wind farm will be located, contain some of the largest wind farms in the country. The wind farm project in Tehachapi is expected to bring up to 47 MW of new renewable energy capacity by the end of 2020.
Another Amazon initiative that is the “Shipment Zero”, which is Amazon’s vision to make all Amazon shipments net zero carbon, with 50 percent of all shipments net zero by 2030.
Additional sustainability programs across the company include Amazon Wind Farm Texas, which adds more than 1 million MWh of clean energy each year. In total, Amazon has enabled 53 wind and solar projects worldwide, which produce more than 1,016 MW and are expected to deliver over 3,075,636 million MWh of energy annually. These projects support hundreds of jobs, while providing tens of millions of dollars of investment in local communities. Amazon has also set a goal to host solar energy systems at 50 fulfillment centers by 2020. This deployment of rooftop solar systems is part of a long-term initiative that will start in North America and spread across the globe. Amazon also implemented the District Energy Project that uses recycled energy to heat Amazon offices in Seattle.