Amazon to spin up Cork wind farm

Second Irish facility to provide 68,000MWh of clean energy annually

Life

Amazon is to open a second wind farm in the Republic of Ireland. Owned by Invis Energy, the facility is expected to start supplying Amazon data centres from 2020.

Once complete, the wind farm in Cork will provide 23.2MW of renewable capacity, with expected generation of 68,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of clean energy annually.

Additionally, Amazon’s investments in renewable energy were recently recognized in the Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA) 2018 Solar Means Business Report, which ranked Amazon #1 in the US for amount of corporate on-site solar installed in 2018, and #2 for total amount of solar installed to date.

Amazon’s solar projects in the US have offset the CO2 equivalent of more than 200 million miles of truck deliveries. Globally, Amazon has 66 renewable energy projects – including 51 solar rooftops – that are expected to generate 1,342MW of renewable capacity and deliver more than 3.9 million MWh of clean energy annually.

“Playing a significant role in helping to reduce the sources of human-induced climate change is an important commitment for Amazon,” said Kara Hurst, director of sustainability, Amazon.

“Major investments in renewable energy are a critical step to address our carbon footprint globally. We will continue to invest in these projects, and look forward to additional investments this year and beyond.”

Minister for Communications, Climate Action & Environment Richard Bruton said: “Under the Climate Action Plan, we are committing that 70% of Ireland’s electricity will come from renewable sources by 2030.

“This project is another example of AWS’s commitment to renewable projects in Ireland, adding clean energy to the grid, and supporting Ireland’s climate commitments.

“Construction will begin on this project this year and will start contributing to Ireland’s renewable energy capacity by 2020.”

David Connolly, CEO of the Irish Wind Energy Association, said: “This is fantastic news and a terrific vote of confidence in our industry which will also help Ireland achieve our 2020 renewable energy targets.

“Wind is the cheapest renewable energy on the market and increasingly competitive with fossil fuels. In the coming years we hope policymakers and industry will work together to ensure we can offer the best possible electricity prices to deliver more deals like this.”

TechCentral Reporters

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