Amazon Signs Deal With ENGIE for Power From Scottish Offshore Wind Farm

A major offshore wind farm near Scotland set to come online later this year has a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Amazon, the technology company that continues as the largest purchaser of renewable energy worldwide.

Amazon on Jan. 30 announced the corporate PPA with ENGIE, the French multinational utility, to take more power from Ocean Winds’ Moray West offshore installation. Amazon’s deal is for a total of 473 MW of generation capacity from the 882-MW wind farm that is under construction in the Moray Firth in the northeastern part of Scotland.

Ocean Winds, an international company formed as a joint venture between EDP Renewables and ENGIE, has said it is following an accelerated development and construction plan for Moray West. Amazon on Tuesday said the installation supports the company’s goal of powering all its operations with renewable energy by next year, which is five years ahead of the group’s original 2030 target date for 100% clean energy use.

Leader in Corporate Use of Renewables

Amazon said the company continues as the largest global corporate purchaser of renewable energy for a fourth consecutive year. The company announced 39 new renewable energy projects across Europe in 2023, totaling more than 1 GW of generation capacity. Amazon said it now is a part of more than 500 solar and wind energy projects worldwide, installations that would provide more than 77,000 GWh of electricity once all are operational.

The company said it invested more than £285 million ($362 million) in renewable energy projects in the UK in the period from 2014 to 2022.

“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,” said Lindsay McQuade, director of Energy/Energy Management Activities, for Amazon Web Services. “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 decarbonizing Amazon’s operations and the UK grid, with this agreement demonstrating Amazon’s commitment to this ambition.”

ENGIE Projects

ENGIE said that in the past year the company signed deals for construction of at least 19 renewable energy projects, representing more than 1 GW of generation capacity. The company said the deals bring ENGIE’s corporate PPA (CPPA) portfolio to 7.3 GW.

“Moray West reflects our strategy to accelerate the transition towards a carbon-neutral world, through investing in renewable generation technologies” said Paulo Almirante, ENGIE senior executive vice president for Renewables/Energy Management Activities. “Furthermore, the innovative character of this CPPA shows that it is possible to create, together with Amazon, the conditions to achieve the UK objectives of renewables deployment and net zero economy. This deal strengthens ENGIE’s leadership position for CPPAs, through which ENGIE has sold a substantial capacity of renewable electricity generated by its wind and solar assets.”

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 program 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.”

Ocean Winds said the Moray West project supports the company’s 2025 targets of having at least 5 GW to 7 GW generation in operation or under construction, and 5 GW to 10 GW under advanced development. Ocean Winds has a 6-GW portfolio of secured offshore wind farms in the UK.

The company said the Moray West installation is supporting local education and workforce training, including using workers that are transitioning from the oil and gas exploration sector.

—Darrell Proctor is a senior associate editor for POWER (@POWERmagazine).