Amazon adds 1GW of renewable energy to Europe’s grid

Amazon has added 39 new renewable energy projects to its European portfolio since the start of the year, the company said today. 

The 39 new additions include 15 rooftop solar installations on Amazon’s own facilities in Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK. The remaining 24 are utility-scale wind and solar projects that the company has funded in Finland, Germany, Greece, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

These projects are already transmitting 1GW of clean energy into national grids across the continent. Once all the Amazon-backed renewable projects are fully operational, they will collectively exceed 5.8GW of capacity. According to the retail giant, this is enough energy to power more than 4.7 million European households annually.

“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,” said Lindsay McQuade, director of energy for EMEA at Amazon.

Under pressure from customers, employees, and shareholders (and, arguably, out of its own eagerness to reduce emissions) Amazon made a public commitment in 2019 to decarbonise its entire business by 2040. At the same time, Amazon pushed forward its pledge to power its operations with 100% renewable energy from 2030 to 2025. 

Since then, the retail giant has been supercharging investment in renewable energy projects as it looks to wean its power-hungry data centres and logistics hubs off fossil fuels. In 2022, Amazon bought 10.9GW of clean power, making it the largest corporate buyer of renewable power in the world.