Amazon will buy power from two German offshore wind farms under what's billed as a wide-ranging partnership with renewables giant Iberdrola, which also on Wednesday confirmed a massive turbine deal with Siemens Gamesa.
The web retail behemoth will take 1.1TWh annually from the Windanker and Baltic Eagle wind farms totaling 776MW between them and due for completion in 2026.
The Baltic wind agreements form the first of what Amazon and Iberdrola said will be a raft of new renewable power purchase agreements (PPAs) covering Europe, Asia and the US.
Amazon is the world’s largest procurer of renewable power, much of it to support the energy-hungry data centre operations of its Amazon Web Services unit.
The US behemoth and fellow tech giants such as Google and Facebook have emerged as major destinations for wind and solar projects around the world, offering stable offtake agreements that have helped underpin project bankability.
Iberdrola CEO Ignacio Galan said: "The challenge of electrifying our energy system to increase our autonomy and reduce emissions requires partnerships between leaders like Iberdrola and Amazon."
Mercedes PPA
Iberdrola didn't wait long to announce its next PPA, and on Thursday said it has also signed a PPA to supply car maker Mercedes-Benz with power from 140MW out of Windanker's 315MW of capacity from 2027 on.
The deal is one of the largest PPAs in the automotive sector, Iberdrola said.
"Renewable energy supply is an important lever for reducing CO2 emissions throughout the global production network of Mercedes-Benz and for our entire company," Mercedes-Benz management board member Jörg Burzer said.
"By partnering with Iberdrola, we are taking an important step to further secure our green energy capacity for the future."
East Anglia 3 deal sealed
News of the Amazon link up came as Iberdrola’s Scottish Power UK arm confirmed a £1.3bn ($1.6bn), 1.4GW order with Siemens Gamesa for its East Anglia 3 project off Eastern England.
The deal for 95 of its largest 14.7MW machines is a boost for the Spanish-German manufacturer, which has leaned on its offshore unit to deliver big orders while it addresses well-publicised issues in its onshore wind division.
Iberdrola first named Siemens Gamesa preferred supplier to its East Anglia projects in early 2021.
EA3 is among a clutch of giant wind projects in the North Sea the UK is relying on to help hit its ambitious offshore wind goal of 50GW by 2030, about four times what’s in place now.
But development plans have faced obstacles such as delays in consenting over wildlife and other environmental issues, and opposition from onshore communities over the impact of transmission infrastructure.
UPDATED to add Iberdrola PPA with Mercedes-Benz also signed
