Dive Brief:
- Online retail giant Amazon announced last week it was investing in a 253-MW wind farm in Scurry County, Texas, the company's largest renewable power project to date. The company is also developing wind and solar power in Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia.
- Lincoln Clean Energy (LCE) will construct, own and operate the wind farm, while Amazon will purchase 90% of the facility's output.
- The announcement is the latest in a trend of large corporations purchasing renewable power. Last week Johnson & Johnson revealed it was purchasing 100 MW of wind energy, half the output from a wind farm also being developed in Texas, by E.ON SE.
Dive Insight:
Large companies are continuing to invest in renewable energy, driven by environmental mandates from shareholders as well as the need for affordable energy. Last week, Amazon announced a new investment in West Texas, the company's largest clean energy buy to date. The new project and four others the company is developing will generate more than 2.6 million MWh of renewable energy each year, Amazon said.
The project will generate 1,000,000 MWh of renewable energy each year, according to Amazon Director of Sustainability Kara Hurst.
Google, now known as Alphabet, may be the largest investor in renewables, chasing a goal to use all carbon-free sources. So far the company has committed to purchase 2.5 GW of renewable energy projects.
Following the trend of corporate renewables projects, Bloomberg last week reported Johnson & Johnson was taking 100 MW of wind energy from a Texas Panhandle facility, half the project's total output. E.ON Climate & Renewables North America and data center developer Digital Realty partnered on the project.
