Amazon has revealed plans for nine brand new utility-scale solar and wind power energy projects in locations all over the world, including the UK. The company also claims that once these projects are fully operational, it will make the company the world’s largest purchaser of renewable energy. As a result, it will bring its target to make its operations fully renewable forward by five years.
The company will now have 206 global renewable energy projects, which according to reNews, includes 71 utility-scale wind and solar projects and 135 solar rooftops. These will collectively generate a massive 8.5 GW of electricity, with a record-breaking 2.5 GW of this produced in Europe alone – enough to power over two million homes across the continent.
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Amazon has a ‘commitment’ to net-zero
The UK-based project will see investment in a 350 MW wind farm, which will be built in the North Sea off the east coast of Scotland. It will be Amazon’s largest in the country and will also be the biggest corporate renewable energy deal in the UK to date.
The other eight projects will include several sites in the US such as Amazon’s first solar project to be paired with energy storage, which will be based in California’s Imperial Valley. In addition to this, there will be developments in Canada, Spain and Sweden.
Collectively, the renewable energy generated will help Amazon meet its net-zero carbon targets, but according to Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos, the projects will put the company ahead of schedule for its wider green objectives.
He offered his comments, stating: “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.
"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.”
What might all this mean for UK consumers?
All of this has the potential to bring a number of benefits to the UK. The first will be the variety of new green job opportunities the project in Scotland will create. In addition to this, it will also be reassuring to know that using Amazon’s services in the future won’t be having a significant impact on the planet – especially when the company is running fully on renewables.
In the longer term though, this move by Amazon may strengthen the belief in renewables as the way forward for businesses worldwide, helping to boost their profile and popularity. In turn, we may start to see an increase in the production of green energy and subsequently the availability and cost of the energy we use in our homes could be reduced, leading to cheaper energy bills.
While this remains to be seen, we do also have the option now to switch to greener tariffs. What's more, there are companies available like Bulb and Octopus who now rank amongst the best energy suppliers, thanks to their variety of great green tariffs and excellent customer service.
If you’d like to switch, all you need to do is use an online energy comparison service to find out what the best energy deals are near you which offer 100% renewable energy or a greener fuel mix. Often these deals can also be cheaper than other tariffs from Big Six providers, so by switching you won’t just be going greener, you can also make notable savings on your energy bills.
