Dive Brief:
- Amazon Web Services announced it will partner with Pattern Energy Group LP to support the construction and operation of a 150-MW wind farm in Benton County, Ind. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
- Dubbed the Amazon Web Services Wind Farm (Fowler Ridge), the facility is expected to start generating approximately 500,000 MWh annually, potentially as early as January 2016.
- Amazon said the energy will be used to help power both current and future AWS Cloud datacenters, and builds on the internet giant's commitment to reaching 100% renewable power for AWS's global infrastructure footprint.
Dive Insight:
In November 2014, AWS shared a long-term commitment to achieve 100% renewable energy usage for its global infrastructure footprint. The company called the power purchase agreement (PPA) backing the Fowler Ridge facility "an important step toward that goal."
AWS introduced its first carbon-neutral operations region – U.S. West (Oregon) – in 2011. Today, AWS offers customers three AWS Regions that are carbon-neutral: U.S. West (Oregon), EU (Frankfurt), and AWS GovCloud (U.S.). Amazon and Pattern Energy 's Fowler Ridge facility will produce enough energy to power the equivalent off 46,000 U.S. homes.
The facility "will bring a new source of clean energy to the electric grid where we currently operate a large number of datacenters and have ongoing expansion plans to support our growing customer base,” said Jerry Hunter, Vice President of Infrastructure at Amazon Web Services. “This PPA helps to increase the renewable energy used to power our infrastructure in the US and is one of many sustainability activities and renewable energy projects for powering our datacenters that we currently have in the works.”