Amazon Announces 300 MW Wind-Solar Hybrid Projects In India, First Such Project Globally

Amazon India on Thursday (01 December) announced its first wind-solar hybrid projects in India, marking a big shift to clean energy.

The two projects with a capacity of 300 MW will be based in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, and once operational, will produce 1163 gigawatt hours of clean power.

The projects were launched with Vibrant Energy, a subsidiary of portfolio company of financial services company Macquarie’s, Green Investment Group (GIG).

“As the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy globally, we continue to build momentum for our renewable energy investments in India. The two new projects represent Amazon’s first wind-solar hybrid projects globally,”, Amazon India said in a statement.

Going Green

Since 2014, the global e-commerce giant has invested in global Renewable Energy (RE) generation to decarbonize its businesses.

The company has pledged to power its operations with 100 per cent RE by 2025 — five years ahead of the original target of 2030.

As part of this, the company has been bringing new wind and solar projects online to power its offices, fulfilment centres, data centres, and stores, which collectively serve millions of customers globally.

By the end of 2021, the company had reached 85 per cent renewable energy across its business and has become the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy globally.

This includes 154 utility-scale wind and solar projects and 225 rooftop solar projects.

Five RE Plants In India

The company, now has five utility-scale RE projects in India, having over 720 MW capacity, including three large-scale solar projects announced in September this year.

All three solar projects are the company’s first such projects in India. Located in Rajasthan, they represent 420 MW of clean energy capacity.

The three Indian projects include a 210 MW project to be developed by ReNew Power, a 100MW project to be developed by Amp Energy India, and a 110MW project to be developed by Brookfield Renewable.

Combined, these solar farms will have the capacity to generate 1,076,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable energy per year, enough to power over 3,60,000 average-sized households in New Delhi annually.

Additionally, Amazon has announced 23 new solar rooftop projects at its fulfilment centres across 14 cities in India, which have the capacity to generate an additional 4.09 MW of renewable energy.

This brings the total number of solar rooftop projects in India to 41 with 19.7 MW of renewable energy capacity, which will contribute to powering Amazon’s fulfilment network in India.

Amazon is scaling fast in India, and these first investments play a critical role in reducing its carbon emissions in the country.