Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announces on September 19, 2019 in Washington the co-founding of The Climate Pledge at the National Press Club.
Paul Morigi | Getty Images | Amazon
LONDON – Amazon announced Monday that it plans to buy half of the energy produced by a huge wind farm in the Netherlands.
Shell and Eneco secured the right to build the 759-megawatt wind farm in the North Sea last July, and Amazon said it would now buy more than 380 MW of its production to power its operations in Europe.
Amazon said the “Amazon-Shell HKN Offshore Wind Project” will be its largest single renewable energy project. The offshore wind farm is expected to be operational by 2023.
Located 18.5 kilometers from the Dutch coast and covering an area of 125 square kilometers, the wind farm will be operated by the CrossWind consortium, which is a joint venture between Shell and Eneco.
According to reports, it will have 69 Siemens Gamesa wind turbines with a capacity of 11 MW and a rotor diameter of 200 meters.
The offshore wind farm will include five technology demonstrations that can be implemented on a large scale in the future, including a floating solar park and “optimally tuned turbines.”
Technology turns green
Like other tech giants, Amazon is looking to use its billions to pay for more renewable energy sources and reduce its carbon footprint.
The company’s data centers around the world use large amounts of electricity to perform computer tasks for Amazon and other companies.
Over the years, Greenpeace has accused Amazon of being relatively secretive about the energy sources it uses to power the centers, which are managed by Amazon Web Services.
Amazon has also been criticized for increasing pollution with its planes and vans and for overuse of cardboard when packaging its products.
Amazon said the Netherlands project will bring it closer to its goal of being clean carbon by 2040 and allow it to consume 100% renewable energy by 2025, which is five years ahead of schedule.
The company said it now has 187 solar and wind projects worldwide. This includes 125 rooftop solar installations in its huge warehouses, which it calls compliance centers.
The largest rooftop solar installation in Europe is in the UK and equates to 28 football pitches, meaning it can produce enough energy for 700 homes in a year, Amazon said.
Amazon added that its renewable energy projects now generate more than 6.9 gigawatts and supply more than 20 million megawatts of energy annually.
Amazon claims to be the second largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the world.