Pattern Energy to develop 150 MW wind farm for Amazon

Amazon

Amazon has signed a 13-year partnership with Pattern Energy for the construction and operation of a 150 megawatt wind farm.

The initiative comes as a response to the recent criticism Amazon has been facing from environmental organizations over its lackadaisical attitude to carbon reduction.

The wind farm, to be called Amazon Web Services Wind Farm (Fowler Ridge), is part of company’s target to achieve 100 percent clean energy usage for the global AWS infrastructure footprint.

Photo credit Bloomberg
Photo credit Bloomberg

The plant is expected to produce 500,000 MW of electricity annually. It will be used to power Amazon’s AWS data centers.

The plant, which will be built in Benton County, Indiana, will go online within a year.

Right now, Amazon offers three carbon-neutral regions: US West (Oregon), EU (Frankfurt) and the AWS GovCloud for its customers. However, Amazon is lagging behind others in the industry in terms of green energy commitment.

A Greenpeace report published last year said AWS has been lagging far behind its competitors in renewable energy dependence contributing only 15 percent.

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On the other hand, technology firms like Microsoft, Apple and Google have advanced in terms of renewable energy commitments.

However, Amazon claims that the deal with Pattern Energy is a stepping stone towards sustainable progress.

Sabeena Wahid

[email protected]