Retail giant Amazon has signed an agreement with Iberdrola to procure 159MW of renewable energy from the 1.4GW East Anglia 3 offshore wind farm.
Formalised via the signing of a power purchase agreement (PPA), Amazon stated that the wind farm would generate an equivalent of 700GWh of clean electricity per year.
Capacity from East Anglia 3 will support Amazon’s commitment to match all the electricity powering its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025 – five years ahead of the company’s original 2030 target. Amazon has become one of the largest solar and wind energy procurers globally.
In December 2023, project developer Iberdrola and Dubai-based Masdar agreed on a €15 billion (£12.86 billion) strategic partnership to see co-investment in the offshore wind farm. Onshore construction of the project started in July 2022 by ScottishPower, a subsidiary of Iberdrola, with commissioning scheduled for Q4 2026.
Alongside this development, ScottishPower, an Iberdrola company, has built an Internet of Things (IoT) platform to collect sensor data and improve the knowledge of its low-voltage network in the UK. The two companies are designing projects to incorporate generative artificial intelligence (AI) through Amazon Bedrock to enhance the experience of its customers and support its field workers.
Lindsay McQuade, director of energy for EMEA at Amazon, said: “Amazon is enabling renewable projects worldwide because transitioning to carbon-free energy sources is one of the most impactful ways to lower carbon emissions and help us reach our Climate Pledge commitment of net-zero carbon by 2040.
“This is good for the planet and our customers. It is great to see Iberdrola using the cloud and AI to turbocharge their renewables business and deliver much-needed clean power to grids worldwide.”
Amazon increases share in Moray West
Earlier this year, Amazon agreed to increase its share of output from Ocean Winds’ Moray West offshore wind farm in Scotland to a total of 473MW.
The company signed a corporate PPA with ENGIE, one-half of the 50/50 EDP Renewables-ENGIE joint venture dedicated to offshore wind. The 882MW wind farm is located in the northeast of Scotland, and the project is set to be finished in 2024.
Ocean Winds is following an accelerated development and construction plan, having initially predicted a 2026/27 operational start date in its application for Auction Round 4 (AR4) of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme.
The expected capacity from the site aims to support Amazon’s accelerated goal of powering all operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025, five years ahead of the company’s original target.
