Amazon Web Services Takes Another Step Toward Total Clean-Energy Reliance

Amazon Web Services (AWS), a subsidiary Seattle-based Amazon that provides on-demand cloud computing services, announced plans to purchase energy from three new wind farms slated for development in Ireland, Sweden and the United States as part of its goal to power AWSs global infrastructure with 100 percent renewable energy.

As of the end of 2018, AWS had achieved 50 percent renewable energy use, Amazon says. The three new wind farm projects, combined with nine previously announced AWS renewable energy projects, are expected to produce clean energy equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of the city of Nashville or some 262,000 U.S. homes.

Each of these projects brings us closer to our long-term commitment to use 100 percent renewable energy to power our global AWS infrastructure, says Peter DeSantis, vice president of global infrastructure and customer support at AWS. These projects are well-positioned to serve AWS data centers in Ireland, Sweden and the US. We expect more projects in 2019 as we continue toward our goal of powering all AWS global infrastructure with renewable energy.

The new wind farm being developed in Backhammar, Sweden, is slated to begin delivery renewable energy by the end of 2020, while the wind farm project in Donegal, Ireland, is expected to come online at the end of 2021. The third new wind farm, in Californias Tehachapi Mountains, is expected to be producing renewable energy at full capacity by the end of 2020.