Amazon backs 100 MW Ohio wind farm in quest for 100% renewables

Dive Brief:

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has contracted with EDP Renewables to construct and operate a 100 MW wind farm in Paulding County, Ohio, with an anticipated startup in May 2017, Argus reports.
Dubbed the "Amazon Wind Farm US Central," the facility will generate approximately 320,000 MWh of wind energy annually to supply Amazon cloud data centers.
Terms of the deal were not announced, but the move targets a 100% renewable energy goal that Amazon announced last year and follows a series of other deals in which large companies bypass their regulated utilities to directly purchase clean power.

Dive Insight:

Amazon has announced another wind farm deal as the global retailer rapidly expands its renewable energy resource portfolio. The company has tapped EDP Renewables to construct the 100 MW farm in Ohio, with startup in the second quarter of May 2017.

The move comes as a part of a trend for Amazon and many other large companies. Earlier this year, Amazon announced it would partner with Pattern Energy Group LP to support the construction and operation of a 150 MW wind farm in Benton County, Ind. Financial details were not disclosed in that deal, either.

“We continue to pursue projects that help to develop more renewable energy sources to the grids that power AWS datacenters and bring us closer to achieving our long term goal of powering our global infrastructure with 100 percent renewable energy,” AWS Vice President of Infrastructure Jerry Hunter said in a statement.

Also earlier this year, AWS said approximately 25% of the power consumed by its global infrastructure was from renewable energy sources and targeted an interim goal of 40% by the end of next year. The company is on pace to meet that goal, Hunter said, and continues to work on ways to increase the energy efficiency of its facilities and equipment.

“Our previously announced renewable energy projects put AWS on track to surpass our goal of 40% renewable energy globally by the end of 2016," Hunter said. "This latest project, Amazon Wind Farm US Central, pushes our renewable energy percentage ever higher.”

Large companies, especially in the tech sector, are increasingly bypassing their utilities to directly purchase renewable power from third party developers, fueling concerns of another death spiral for electric utilities. Power sector players are responding, Utility Dive has reported, by partnering with third party developers to facilitate renewable PPA deals or, in other instances, forming subsidiaries to compete in the renewables development business themselves.