Amazon's (AMZN -1.14%) crusade against climate change continues. In its latest move, the e-commerce giant has struck a deal to buy 380 megawatts (MW) of wind energy from Hollandse Kust Noord, a wind farm off the coast of Netherlands that's being developed by The Crosswind, a consortium between oil major Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.B) and Eneco, a Netherlands-based energy company owned by Japan's Mitsubishi (MSBHF 0.72%).
Amazon says this project, called the Amazon-Shell HKN Offshore Wind Project, is also its "largest single-site renewable energy project" yet.
The wind farm is expected to be operational by 2023 with an installed capacity of 759 MW. That means Amazon will buy 50% of its total power starting in 2024 to power its operations in Europe, including 250 MW from Shell and 130 MW from Eneco.
Image source: Getty Images.
This project takes Amazon one step closer to its goal of becoming a 100% renewable energy company by 2025, five years ahead of its original target announced in late 2019 under its Climate Pledge.
Amazon has made significant investments in renewable energy since. In 2020, it became the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy, having announced 127 solar and wind energy projects with 6.5 gigawatts (GW) of capacity by Dec. 10, 2020.
With its latest offshore wind project, Amazon's global wind and solar projects now total 187 with a capacity of 6.9 GW.
Lately, Amazon has been consistently hitting the headlines for its clean energy initiatives. The first of its three wind farms in Ireland came on line earlier this month, and the company just ordered more than 1,000 natural-gas engines for its distribution fleet. These moves reflect Amazon's commitment to becoming net-zero carbon by 2040.
