Data colossus Amazon has signed a corporate power purchase agreement with ENGIE, increasing its share of output from developer Ocean Winds’ Moray West venture to a total of 473MW when its offshore turbines begin spinning later this year.
Ocean Winds is a 50:50 joint venture by Madrid-based developer EDP Renewables and retailer ENGIE. The offtake is enough to power a notional 650,000 UK homes annually.
Located in the Moray Firth off Scotland’s north east coast, the 882MW offshore farm is currently under construction, and anticipated to generate its first power in 2024.
The PPA deal rests on Ocean Winds speeding up the park’s construction. Moray West will support Amazon’s goal of powering all operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025, five years ahead of the company’s original target.
Paulo Almirante, ENGIE Senior Executive Vice-President Renewables & Energy Management, said: “This deal strengthens ENGIE’s leadership position for CPPAs, through which we have sold a substantial capacity of renewable electricity generated by its wind and solar assets.”
“This CPPA’s innovative character shows it is possible to create, together with Amazon, the conditions to achieve the UK objectives of renewables deployment and Net Zero economy.
ENGIE signed 19 ground-breaking deals last year, spanning five countries, covering over 1GW of clean energy capacity, bolstering ENGIE’s CPPA portfolio to 7.3GW.
Every year since 2021, Amazon’s investments in solar and wind have enthroned the company as Europe’s as well as Britain’s biggest corporate purchaser of renewable energy.
The multinational announced 39 new renewables projects across Europe last year, adding more than 1GW of dedicated low carbon capacity to the region’s grids.
Between 2014 and 2022, Amazon says its clean power investments in Britain alone amount to £285 million. They supported 600 local jobs in 2022 alone.
Lindsay McQuade, director of energy for Amazon Web Services covering Europe, said: “Projects like Moray West will play a critical role in decarbonising Amazon’s operations and the UK grid.”
“We are on track to meet our ambitious goal of powering our global operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025. In 2022, 90% of electricity consumed by Amazon was attributable to renewable energy sources”.
Bautista Rodriguez, CEO at the Ocean Winds joint venture, said: “I am proud that the collective efforts of the Moray West and Ocean Winds teams, working closely with ENGIE, helped secure this important deal with Amazon.
“The programme for delivery is ambitious but the project and sponsor boards have supported us to keep the project firmly on track.”
Moray West represents continued investment by Ocean Winds to deliver its 2025 targets of up to 7GW of projects in operation, or construction, and up to 10 GW under advanced development. The project, part of the company’s 6GW portfolio of secured offshore wind farms in the UK, is expected to inject up to £500 million in the local Scottish economy throughout its lifespan, and during construction phases it will create and support more than 1,000 jobs in Scotland, with 70 long-term operational roles. Local supply chains are prioritised, through a new operational team based in the coastal town of Buckie.
