Amazon and Iberdrola Sign Global Renewables Pact, First Stop Offshore Wind

Business & Finance

March 29, 2023, by Adnan Durakovic

Iberdrola and Amazon have announced a new global collaboration to support the development of large-scale renewable energy projects and leverage cloud computing technology to enhance digitalisation in the energy transition.

Iberdrola and Amazon.com Inc. have agreed to collaborate on new wind and solar capacity by signing power purchase agreements (PPA) for projects in Europe, the US, and Asia-Pacific.

The agreements will help Amazon stay on the path to power its operations with 100 per cent renewable energy by 2025 – five years ahead of its original 2030 commitment.

Two of Iberdrola’s offshore wind farms in Germany, Baltic Eagle and Windanker, will provide Amazon with 1.1 TWh of clean energy each year, which is equivalent to the annual electricity needs of more than 314,000 European homes.

Baltic Eagle is located in the Baltic Sea, north of the island of Rügen and will have a total capacity of 476 MW when completed in 2024.

Windanker, also located in the Baltic Sea, will have 300 MW of installed capacity and will be completed in 2026.

The projects form part of Iberdrola’s Baltic Hub, which will have a total capacity of 1,100 MW, making it one of the largest offshore wind clusters in the region.

”In recent months, commodity price volatility has shown the benefits of long-term contracts. PPAs allow more customers to benefit from stable prices, and producers to have lower cost of capital. Our new global alliance with Amazon will involve PPAs in Europe, the US, and Asia-Pacific. The first step is a long-term contract to supply Amazon more than 1,000 GWh of green energy from our offshore wind farms at the German Baltic Sea,” Ignacio Galán, Iberdrola’s Executive Chairman, said.

”We need to see more deals like this. Measures such as standardization, the creation of a secondary market for PPAs, or tax incentives can accelerate the adoption of long-term contracts by large customers and SMEs.”

In addition to the agreement with Amazon for renewable energy, Iberdrola has selected Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) as its preferred cloud provider. AWS will support the energy company as it embarks on further digitalisation to support smarter grids, customer engagement, and connected clean power.

”The challenge of electrifying our energy system to increase our autonomy and reduce emissions requires partnerships between leaders like Iberdrola and Amazon. The agreement today, combining sun, wind, and cloud, will enable new renewable generation capacity around the world and accelerate the digital revolution in the energy sector. AWS technologies will support our digital strategy to continue increasing quality of supply and provide cleaner and fully-interconnected energy services for our customers,” Galán said.