Amazon shines light on three new global solar projects

An e-tail giant is investing in solar farms in Illinois, Virginia, and Spain.

Amazon’s newest renewable energy solar projects in the U.S. will be located in Lee County, Illinois and in northern Virginia. Together, they total 180 megawatts (MW) and are expected to generate almost 400,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable energy annually. This will be Amazon’s first large-scale renewable energy project in the state of Illinois and ninth in the commonwealth of Virginia.

Meanwhile, Amazon’s newest renewable energy project in Europe will be the company’s first large-scale project in Spain, located southeast of Sevilla. Once complete, the new solar farm will provide 149 megawatts (MW) of new renewable capacity.

These projects support Amazon’s commitment to The Climate Pledge and reaching 80% renewable energy by 2024 and 100% renewable energy target by 2030 on its path to net zero carbon by 2040.

Once complete, the three new Amazon renewable energy solar projects will provide an estimated 329 MW of additional renewable capacity supplying energy to the company’s fulfillment network in Europe and Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers.

To date, Amazon has launched over 70 renewable energy projects that will provide over 1,900 MW of renewable capacity and are projected to deliver more than 5.3 million MWh of renewable energy annually. These projects include 21 utility-scale wind and solar farms and more than 50 solar rooftops installed on fulfillment centers and sort centers around the globe.

“Earlier this year, we announced The Climate Pledge, setting a goal to meet the Paris Agreement 10 years early and be net zero carbon by 2040. We also plan to run on 80% renewable energy by 2024 and 100% renewable energy by 2030,” said Kara Hurst, director of sustainability, Amazon. “We’re committed to investing in renewable energy as a critical step toward addressing our carbon footprint globally.”

To track progress toward these goals, Amazon launched a new sustainability website to report on its sustainability commitments, initiatives, and performance. The site includes information on Amazon’s carbon footprint and other sustainability metrics that share the progress the company is making towards reaching The Climate Pledge.