Amazon recently announced its first utility-scale renewable energy projects in India – three solar farms located in the state of Rajasthan. These include a 210 MW project to be developed by India-based developer ReNew Power, a 100MW project to be developed by local developer Amp Energy India, and a 110MW project to be developed by Brookfield Renewable. Combined, these solar farms have the capacity to generate 1,076,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable energy per year, enough to power over 360,000 average-sized households in New Delhi annually[2]. Amazon’s solar projects in Rajasthan will help to increase the availability and affordability of renewable energy in India, by enabling new capacity beyond what is available on the grid today. Additionally, Amazon announced 23 new solar rooftop projects on its fulfillment centers across 14 cities in India, which have the capacity to generate an additional 4.09 MW of renewable energy. This brings the total number of solar rooftop projects in India to 41 with 19.7 MW of renewable energy capacity, which will contribute to powering Amazon’s fulfilment network in India.
“We are bringing new wind and solar projects online to power our offices, fulfillment centers, data centers, and stores, which collectively serve millions of customers globally, and we are on a path to reach 100% renewable energy across our entire business by 2025” said Adam Selipsky, CEO of Amazon Web Services. “Around the world, countries are looking to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy, and continued investments like ours can help accelerate their journey as we all work together to mitigate the impacts of climate change.”
“We are pleased to see how policy reforms by the government over the last several years are enabling use of renewable energy by the Industry thus providing means to achieve their sustainability goals,” commented Dinesh Dayanand Jagdale, Joint Secretary for the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). “Corporate off-takers of renewable power, such as Amazon, are an increasingly important source of investment for renewable energy projects across India. These investments in large-scale projects like the ones announced today are adding significant volumes of new renewable power to the grid, to the benefit of all Indian consumers. We have been working with industry to creatively unlock more such private sector investments in renewable energy projects. We hope that the policy reforms that we have enacted in India to enable this will serve as a model globally for countries seeking to bring corporate renewable energy investments to accelerate their transition to a greener energy future.”
Amazon’s project with ReNew Power is a 210 MW solar farm in Rajasthan — considered to be one of the largest solar corporate power purchase agreement (PPA)[3] by a technology company in India — and the largest single business-to-business (B2B) project that ReNew Power is developing in India. “As we support India’s historic clean energy transition, our work with global leaders such as Amazon is critical in decarbonizing the corporate sector and the broader economy. Leading organizations like Amazon set an example for other companies globally to adopt clean energy sources and, accelerate the energy transition, a pre-requisite to meet our net-zero goals,” said Sumant Sinha, Founder, Chairman and CEO, ReNew.”
“We are pleased to partner with Amazon on this landmark project. It highlights Amp Energy India’s unique abilities to offer solutions for corporates to reach 100% renewable energy. We are proud to partner with a global brand like Amazon on their renewable energy push. This project also supports the government’s Digital India mission of transforming India into a digitally empowered society powered by renewable energy.” said by Mr. Pinaki Bhattacharyya MD & CEO Amp Energy India.
Amazon has executed more than 500 MW of renewable energy PPAs with Brookfield globally, and now 110 MW in India. Speaking about this partnership, Nawal Saini, Managing Director, Renewable Power and Transition, Brookfield said, “We are pleased to work with Amazon on their journey towards becoming 100% renewable energy powered. The new Bikaner solar park development is being undertaken as a part of the Brookfield Global Transition Fund, our inaugural impact fund focusing on investments that accelerate the global transition to a net-zero carbon economy. We look forward to partnering with governments and corporates to accelerate their sustainability and decarbonization goals.”
“At Amazon, we have worked hard to collaborate with and engage government and industry stakeholders on corporate power purchase agreements for renewable energy in India,” said Abhinav Singh, Director – Customer Fulfilment, Supply Chain and Global Specialty Fulfilment, Amazon India. “Besides these PPAs, our efforts include providing training for developers and other buyers on how to structure these agreements for mutual benefit, facilitating government dialogues with industry groups to highlight the importance of corporate buyers, and working with local energy providers who want to reach new customers. Amazon is committed to helping scale corporate renewable energy procurement options in the country, bringing associated green jobs and investments to more parts of India.”
Amazon also announced that it is expanding its renewable energy portfolio globally, with an additional 2.7 gigawatts (GW) of clean energy capacity across 71 new renewable energy projects. This includes the company’s first renewable energy project in South America – a solar farm in Brazil – and its first solar farm in Poland. Once fully operational, Amazon’s global renewable energy portfolio will generate 50,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) of clean energy, which is the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power 4.6 million U.S. homes each year.
As the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy globally, Amazon now has a total of 379 renewable energy projects across 21 countries, including 154 wind and solar farms and 225 rooftop solar projects, representing 18.5 GW of renewable energy capacity. In the Asia-Pacific region, the company now has a total of 57 renewable energy projects. By the end of 2021, the company had reached 85% renewable energy across its business.
