Amazon invests in 759MW offshore wind farm to power European operations

Online shopping giant Amazon has invested in the 759MW Hollandse Kust Noord offshore wind farm being built off the west coast of the Netherlands, and will purchase half of the wind farm’s output to help power the company’s operations across Europe.

With the signing of a raft of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) in December totalling 3.4GW – including power from the 96.6MW Hawkesdale wind farm on the outskirts of the Victorian Western District town of Hawkesdale – Amazon became the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy, with 4GW of renewable power purchased in 2020.

This week, however, Amazon announced that it had invested in the newly-renamed Amazon-Shell HKN Offshore Wind Project, a 759MW offshore wind project being built 18.5-kilometres off the coast of the Netherlands near the town of Egmond aan Zee.

The project, developed by CrossWind – a joint venture between Shell Nederland and Eneco – is expected to be completed and operational by the end of 2023, or early 2024.

Expected to consist of 69 11MW wind turbines, the project is expected to generate 3.3TWh per year.

CrossWind won the tender to build the project in the middle of 2020, a subsidy free offshore wind project that will not only include 759MW of offshore wind power, but also include a floating solar park, shot-term battery storage, and a green hydrogen electrolyser for additional storage.

Amazon’s investment in the project will further support the development of the project, while also guaranteeing purchase of the project’s electricity.

The investment is the latest in a long line of renewable energy investments and projects Amazon has backed and developed.

The company currently purchases electricity from 187 solar and wind projects around the globe, generating over 6.9GW and delivering the company more than 20 million MWh of electricity each year.

Amazon’s renewable investments and PPAs includes 62 utility-scale wind and solar projects, as well as a further 125 solar rooftops on fulfilment centres and sort centres around the planet.