Amazon Web Services announces Amazon Wind Farm US Central 2

Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company, has announced the Amazon Wind Farm US Central 2, a new 189 MW wind farm in Hardin County, Ohio.

The wind project is expected to generate 530,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of wind energy annually starting in December 2017. Amazon engaged with EverPower, to construct, own, and operate the new wind farm.

This is AWS’s fifth renewable energy project in the United States (and its second wind farm in Ohio) that will deliver energy onto the electric grid powering AWS data centers located in the AWS US East (Ohio) and AWS US East (N. Virginia) Regions. When this wind farm is completed, AWS’s five renewable energy projects will generate a grand total of 2.2 million MWh of energy annually, enough to power almost 200,000 U.S. homes. 

In November 2014, AWS shared its long-term commitment to achieve 100 percent renewable energy usage for the global AWS infrastructure footprint. Ambitious sustainability initiatives over the last 18-24 months have put AWS on track to exceed its 2016 goal of 40 percent renewable energy use and enabled AWS to set a new goal to be powered by 50 percent renewable energy by the end of 2017.

Peter DeSantis, Vice President, Infrastructure, AWS, said:

"We remain committed to achieving our long-term goal of powering the AWS Cloud with 100 percent renewable energy .There are lots of things that go into making this a reality, including governments implementing policies that stimulate cost-effective renewable energy production, businesses that buy that energy, economical renewable projects from our development partners and utilities, as well as technological and operational innovation that drives greater efficiencies in our global infrastructure. We continue to push on all of these fronts to stay well ahead of our renewable energy goals.”

Jim Spencer, CEO of EverPower, commented:

“We applaud Amazon’s goal to power the global infrastructure for the industry-leading AWS Cloud with renewable energy and are pleased to collaborate in this effort. Leading companies like AWS are enabling the construction of large, utility-scale renewable power projects that will ultimately help to off-set the energy supplied by fossil fuels and create a cleaner, healthier environment for our communities.”