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Amazon has announced two new renewable energy projects, including a 23MW wind farm to be located in Cork.
In the latest Irish renewable energy project announcement from the Big Tech giants, Amazon has confirmed that the site of its latest EU project will be in Cork. This will make it the second Amazon wind farm in the country.
Once completed, the site will provide 23.2MW of renewable electricity, with expected generation of 68,000MW hours (MWh) annually. A spokesperson confirmed that the site will be located in the area of Esk in north Cork. It will be developed, operated and owned by Invis Energy with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to offtake 100pc of the energy from this project in September 2020.
“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,” said Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment Richard Bruton, TD.
“Construction will begin on this project this year and will start contributing to Ireland’s renewable energy capacity by 2020. We look forward to continuing to work with AWS as we strive to make Ireland a leader in the renewable energy space.”
Two projects
Meanwhile, a second renewable project will be located in the US state of Virginia, with the opening of Amazon’s seventh solar farm in the region. Once complete, the new site will provide 45MW of renewable capacity and is expected to generate 100,000MWh annually.
Speaking about the two projects, the company’s director of sustainability, Kara Hurst, said: “Playing a significant role in helping to reduce the sources of human-induced climate change is an important commitment for 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.”
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 3.9m MWh of clean energy annually.
Last April, Amazon agreed a deal to power its cloud infrastructure using a 92.1MW wind farm under development in Donegal. Developed by Invis Energy, the site is expected to deliver clean energy no later than the end of 2021.
In 2018, Amazon revealed plans to create 1,000 new jobs in Ireland, bringing its Irish workforce headcount to 3,500 people.
Updated, 11.55am, 1 August 2019: This article was updated to include more detailed information on the project’s location in Cork, specifying that it will be in the area of Esk.
