Amazon Web Services (AWS) is to massively increase its investments in Spain, expanding its existing cloud region there and investing in almost 600MW of renewable energy projects.
In the US, the company’s first combined solar and battery storage project has gone live in California.
AWS to invest billions of dollars into Aragón cloud region
The company this week announced plans to invest €15.7 billion ($17bn) in Spain into its AWS Europe (Spain) Region.
AWS said it will expand its cloud infrastructure in Aragón with the support of the regional government, though further details weren’t shared.
“We are committed to supporting Spain across multiple areas," said Suzana Curic, AWS country manager, Spain and Portugal. "Beyond direct investments and jobs supported, we plan to continue our partnerships with local schools and community initiatives to support talent development, community education programs, and sustainability initiatives.”
Amazon announced plans to invest €2.5 billion in Spain back in 2021. Amazon launched an AWS cloud region in Aragón in November 2022; reportedly around Zaragoza in the Huesca Logistics Platform, in Villanueva de Gállego, and in El Burgo de Ebro.
Telefónica, Adif, IE, Insud Pharma, and the Spanish Red Cross are named customers using the AWS region in Aragón.
The Minister for Digital Transformation and the Public Service, José Luis Escrivá, said: “Amazon Web Services' decision to choose Spain places us at the forefront of technology innovation and artificial intelligence in Europe and confirms, once again, Spain’s ability to support technology talent and quality jobs in the long term."
In a separate announcement this week, Amazon is investing in 12 new renewable energy projects in Spain totaling 596MW, taking its capacity in the country to 3GW across 79 projects.
The new projects will consist of four wind farms and eight solar plants, though further details weren’t shared.
"The solar and wind energy projects we are promoting help us power our operations, as well as provide clean energy to the grid and support the economic growth of the communities where our employees and our customers live and work," said Mariangela Marseglia, VP and general director of Amazon in Spain, Italy, and Portugal.
Amazon is the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in Spain, as well as in Europe and globally. Its 79 projects in the country consist of 49 off-site installations (nine wind farms and 40 photovoltaic plants) and 30 solar roof deployments on its buildings.
AWS solar & storage project goes live in California
In the US, a solar & battery storage project serving Amazon has gone live. The company this week said the 150MW Baldy Mesa solar + 75MW storage project outside of San Bernardino, California, went live this month. The company said it is its first grid-scale solar and battery energy storage system (BESS) project.
Developed, owned, and operated by AES, machine learning models powered by AWS’ SageMaker tool are helping predict when and how the project’s battery unit should charge and discharge energy back to the grid.
Amazon said it is investing in the development of 10 solar energy projects paired with battery storage to date across California and Arizona, representing nearly 1.5GW of battery energy storage capacity.
Amazon’s San Bernardino Air Hub’s 5.8MW rooftop solar array is paired with a 2.5MW battery energy storage unit.
