Amazon has claimed the title of the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy for the fifth year in a row, citing data compiled by BloombergNEF.
Over 2024, Amazon signed various energy supply agreements with traditional renewable energy projects, such as wind and solar, and committed to emerging low-carbon technologies, such as small modular reactors (SMR).
According to the company, it has supported more than 600 wind and solar projects to date. Of those 600, 40 are in countries with high fossil fuel penetration, including Australia, China, Greece, India, Indonesia, Poland, and South Africa, and states like Louisiana and Mississippi.
According to Amazon, it has prioritized projects "in the locations where they can have the biggest impact on curbing emissions and improving the local environment," said Amazon chief sustainability officer Kara Hurst.
For example, in India, where most of the power is derived from fossil fuels, Amazon invested in nine utility-scale solar and wind farms. In April, Ampln Energy launched a 100MW solar farm that will supply Amazon's operations in the country.
In addition, in Poland, Amazon agreed to procure 53MW of energy from two wind farms owned by Vortex Energy, the company's first wind power agreement in the country.
In November, the company also signed four PPAs in Greece for three onshore wind projects. The energy produced by the projects will be delivered to the Greek grid, supporting the overall decarbonization of the country's energy infrastructure.
In addition, Amazon was one of the most active data center firms in procuring Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) within established markets.
In March, Amazon signed a PPA with Iberdrola for 159MW from the East Anglia Three offshore wind farm – equivalent to 700GWh of energy annually. Before this, in February, it signed a further PPA with Iberdrola to offtake from the 98.4MW Juniper IIA wind farm in Oregon.
In August, the tech giant signed a 9.5MW PPA with Eneos Renewable for energy from the Kudamatsu Fourth Mega Solar Power Plant, currently under construction in Kudamatsu City, Yamaguchi, Japan.
In addition to traditional renewable procurement, Amazon has invested heavily in other technologies that can provide consistent power when renewable output is low. The company claimed it had enabled 2.7GW of energy storage and energy-firming technology to date.
For example, in October, the Amazon-backed Baldy Mesa solar plus storage project was brought online. The project comprises a 150MW solar PV generation capacity and a 75MW/300MWh battery energy storage system.
Amazon has also invested heavily in the nuclear energy market, signing four agreements. Three of these agreements involved SMR technology in Virginia and Pennsylvania.
The final agreement followed Amazon's acquisition of Talen Energy's 960MW Cumulus data center campus. The 1,200-acre campus draws power from Talen Energy's neighboring 2.5GW nuclear power station in Luzerne County, the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station (SSES). Talen will also supply AWS with energy via a 10-year PPA from the nuclear plant as part of the deal.