Multifaceted tech giant Amazon is about to unveil a major investment in one of Britain’s biggest wind farms.
The company is aiming to power its entire UK operation – from sales warehouses to film studios to cloud computing – using renewable energy by next year.
The Mail on Sunday understands that Amazon, which employs about 75,000 people in Britain, plans to later this month announce a deal to buy electricity from the Moray West offshore wind farm.
The project, which is located off the North-East coast of Scotland and controlled by a joint venture between Spanish energy giant EDPR and French rival Engie, is currently under construction. It is expected to start operating later this year.
Moray West is aiming to generate about 900 megawatts of electricity. Amazon will use 473 megawatts – more than half the total capacity and enough to power 175,000 homes. The site will also inject an estimated £500 million into the Scottish economy and support more than 1,000 jobs.
Eco friendly: Moray West is aiming to generate about 900 megawatts of electricity
The upcoming deal for wind power comes as Amazon tries to hit its target of using renewable energy to power its entire worldwide operations by 2025 – five years ahead of schedule.
The firm is currently obtaining 90 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources after pouring billions of pounds into around 400 wind and solar energy projects around the world.
Amazon claims that between 2014 and 2022 its green energy efforts generated £285 million worth of investment and boosted Britain’s GDP by £90 million.
The breakneck expansion into renewables forms part of an agenda spearheaded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The multi-billionaire is thought to have blocked initiatives at the company which he deemed environmentally unfriendly, including petrol discounts for Amazon’s Prime customers in the US.
Amazon is not the only overseas giant interested in the UK’s burgeoning wind power sector, which has struggled amid worries that spiralling costs could make some projects unviable.
Last year, it emerged that Masdar, the United Arab Emirates’ state-backed green energy company, was set to buy up to 49 per cent of the East Anglia Three offshore wind farm, which is being built off the coast of Norfolk.
In December, Masdar snapped up a 49 per cent share of Dogger Bank South – an £11 billion UK wind project in the North Sea – from German utility group RWE.
Last month, Danish giant Orsted signed off its financial plan for the Hornsea 3 project in the North Sea, which will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm, able to power more than 3.3 million homes. It will create about 1,200 jobs.
