Amazon invests in second Australian solar farm

Amazon has committed to a second renewable energy project in Australia, unveiling plans for a new 105 megawatt solar farm in NSW.

The project is one of five new utility-scale solar energy projects across the world - which also includes three in the United States and one in China - aimed at offsetting the power used by its data centres and fulfilment centres worldwide.

Amazon has pledged to use 80 percent renewable energy by 2024 and 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, and reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040.

At 105 megawatts, the second Australian solar project will be larger than the first (60 megawatt), with the capacity to generate 250,000 megawatt hours of clean energy each year.

Amazon said this would be “enough to power the equivalent of 40,000 average Australian homes”.

The first renewable project, which is expected to come online in 2021, will see Amazon buy 60 megawatts of power from Canadian Solar’s Gunnedah solar farm in NSW.

There is currently no timeframe for the second renewable project.

Amazon Web Services’ A/NZ commercial sector managing director Adam Beavis said the new renewable project would allow more energy to be derived from renewable sources.

Earlier this month, he told the Australian Financial Review that lowering the footprint of AWS' data centres was a considerable focus.

The company has a total of 91 renewable energy projects, including 31 utility-scale wind and solar projects across the world that are collectively capable of generating over 2900 megawatts of electricity.

The five new projects will add 615 megawatts to that amount.