American tech giant Amazon has signed a deal to buy electricity from Scotland’s Moray West offshore wind farm ahead of first power later this year.
The corporate power purchase agreement (CPPA) has been signed to acquire more than half of the project’s clean energy, the equivalent sum needed for 650,000 homes.
Moray West is currently under construction 13 miles off the coast on north-east Scotland, owned by Ocean Winds; a 50-50 joint venture between France’s Engie and Spain’s EDP Renewables.
According to its website, Amazon is the largest purchaser of renewable power anywhere on the planet
The global conglomerate has been buying up scores of PPAs with renewable energy projects around the world to power its vast operations, including 39 in Europe last year alone, which it hopes to become 100% renewables reliant by 2025.
Amazon first invested in the Moray West project in 2022.
Lindsay McQuade, Director of Energy, EMEA, Amazon Web Services (AWS), said: “Transitioning to carbon-free energy sources is one of the most impactful ways to lower carbon emissions, and is part of our Climate Pledge commitment to reach net zero carbon across our operations by 2040.
“We are on track to meet our ambitious goal of powering our global operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025, and in 2022, 90% of electricity consumed by Amazon was attributable to renewable energy sources. Projects like Moray West will play a critical role in decarbonising Amazon’s operations and the UK grid, with this agreement demonstrating Amazon’s commitment to this ambition.”
© Supplied by LamprellAmazon will take on more than half of the project’s clean power – 473MW of its 882MW total.
Bautista Rodriguez, CEO at Ocean Winds, said: “I am proud that the collective efforts of the Moray West and Ocean Winds teams, working closely with colleagues in ENGIE, helped secure this important deal with Amazon, prior to the Financial Close of the project and as part of an innovative and unprecedented route to market for an offshore wind farm. The programme for delivery of the power for Amazon is ambitious but the project and sponsor boards have supported us to keep the project firmly on track.”
Moray West is part of Ocean Winds’ six-gigawatt portfolio of wind farms off the UK coast and, once operational, it will generate enough power for the equivalent of 1.3m UK homes.
Ocean Winds said Moray West will inject up to £500m to the local Scottish economy over its lifetime, including 70 long-term roles, with an operational team based out of Buckie.
However, key components have been produced overseas – in the UAE and China – the first of which arrived earlier this month.
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