Amazon Web Services (AWS) Continues Its Renewable Energy Push With New Mega Wind Farm in Ohio

Amazon Web Services (AWS Cloud) has contracted with EDP Renewables to construct and operate a 100-megawatt (MW) wind farm in Paulding County, Ohio, called the Amazon Wind Farm US Central. It is AWS’ fourth major renewable energy project in 2015 and expected to generate more than 320,000 MWh of energy annually (enough to power more than 29,000 U.S. homes in a year).

In November 2014, AWS shared its long-term commitment to achieve 100 percent renewable energy usage for the global AWS Cloud infrastructure footprint. In April 2015, AWS announced that approximately 25 percent of the power consumed by its global cloud infrastructure was from renewable energy sources with a goal of increasing that percentage to at least 40 percent by the end of 2016.

“Our previously announced renewable energy projects put AWS on track to surpass our goal of 40 percent renewable energy globally by the end of 2016,” said Jerry Hunter, Vice President of Infrastructure, Amazon Web Services (AWS). “This latest project, Amazon Wind Farm US Central, pushes our renewable energy percentage ever higher.” The 320,000 MWh of energy being generated will be delivered into the electrical grid that supplies both current and future AWS Cloud data centers.

aws-cloud-wind-farmAs part of its renewable energy push, AWS continues to work on ways to increase the energy efficiency of its facilities and equipment. In January 2015, Amazon announced a renewable project with the Amazon Wind Farm (Fowler Ridge) in Benton County, Indiana, which is expected to generate 500,000 MWh of wind power annually. In April 2015, Amazon announced a pilot of Tesla’s energy storage batteries that are designed to help bridge the gap between intermittent production, from sources like wind, and the data center’s constant power demand.

EDP Renewables is a global provider of renewable energy and one of the largest producers of wind power in the world. The company operates in 12 markets around the world – in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Spain, United States, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Romania and Mexico.