Amazon has announced the forthcoming construction of 24 new renewable energy projects in Spain. The total capacity of these facilities will be 794 megawatts, which, together with those already in operation, will bring the US company’s renewable capacity in our country to over 2.3 gigawatts.

The new package of renewable energy projects announced includes two wind farms in Castilla y León and 17 solar plants, six in Castilla-La Mancha, four in Castilla y León and four in Valencia. Andalusia, Aragon and Extremadura will share the other three. The remaining five will be solar roofs on the company’s own buildings.

Investment generation and job creation
The construction of the new projects will bring the total number of Amazon’s renewable energy generation facilities in Spain to 67. Of these, 37 are large-scale plants and the other 30 are solar roofs on its buildings. Taking into account various factors, the company calculates that these initiatives have generated an estimated investment of 670 million euros in our country to date, with the creation of more than 1,800 jobs.

Amazon’s original strategic goal was to power its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2030. However, the development of its plans has accelerated and it now claims to be able to reach this milestone by 2025. This includes Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centres, and Amazon’s logistics centres and physical stores.

New sources of clean energy
Amazon’s EMEA director of energy Lindsay McQuade said, “With more than 160 wind and solar projects in Europe, Amazon is helping to provide new sources of clean energy to local grids, creating jobs and supporting Spanish businesses as we move towards powering our operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025.”

For McQuade, “Business investment is an important catalyst in the transition to a clean energy future and we look forward to continuing to work with governments, local communities and utilities across Europe to bring more renewable energy to local grids”.

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