Amazon has announced plans for a new solar strategy which will see the technology deployed on 50 fulfillment and sortation centers globally by 2020, beginning with 15 US installations to be completed in 2017.
The initial projects are expected to have a combined capacity of up to 41MW will be completed at Amazon facilities in California, New Jersey, Maryland, Nevada and Delaware this year.
The programme will then be extended to other countries with Amazon facilities, such as the UK which is expected to have 16 fulfillment centres by the end of the year.
Dave Clark, senior vice president of worldwide operations at Amazon, said: “As our fulfillment network continues to expand, we want to help generate more renewable energy at both existing and new facilities around the world in partnership with community and business leaders.
“By diversifying our energy portfolio, we can keep business costs low and pass along further savings to customers. It’s a win-win.”
The company says some installations could deliver up to 80% of a single facility’s energy needs, depending on the specific project.
To date, Amazon has announced or commenced construction on projects which will generate a total of 3,600 GWh of renewable energy. It was the leading corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the US before Google jumped ahead, which unlike Amazon chooses to purchase all of its renewable energy rather than build new assets.