Amazon to develop 3 solar farms, 23 rooftop projects in India

Amazon will develop three solar farms in Rajasthan, with a combined capacity of 420 MW of clean energy, which is equal to 1,076,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of power per year. The energy produced at these farms is enough to power over 360,000 average-sized households in New Delhi annually, says an Amazon statement. 

The projects include a 210 MW project to be developed by ReNew Power; a 100MW project by domestic developer Amp Energy India; and a 110MW project by Brookfield Renewable. These solar projects will help increase the availability and affordability of renewable energy in India. 

Amazon will also come up with 23 new solar rooftop projects in its fulfilment centres across 14 cities in India. They'll have a combined capacity of 4.09 MW of renewable energy. 

With this, Amazon's total number of solar rooftop projects in India stands at 41. They produce 19.7 MW of renewable energy and are used to power Amazon’s fulfilment network.

The energy produced at its farms and rooftop projects is used to power Amazon's offices, fulfilment centres, data centres, and stores. Amazon is on a path to reach "100% renewable energy across our entire business by 2025”, says Adam Selipsky, CEO of Amazon Web Services.

As per Dinesh Dayanand Jagdale, joint secretary of the new & renewable energy ministry, investments in large-scale projects like these are adding significant volumes of new renewable power to the grid. "We have been working with industry to creatively unlock more such private sector investments in renewable energy projects."

Amazon’s project with ReNew is one of the largest solar corporate power purchase agreements by a technology company in India so far. Amazon is also expanding its renewable energy portfolio in other countries like Brazil and Poland. It has a total of 379 renewable energy projects across 21 countries, including 154 wind and solar farms and 225 rooftop solar projects. This accounts for a total of 18.5 GW of renewable energy capacity.

Amazon says its first renewable energy project in South America – a solar farm in Brazil – and its first solar farm in Poland, which once operational, will generate 50,000-gigawatt hours (GWh) of clean energy. This is equivalent to the electricity needed to power 4.6 million U.S. homes each year. In the Asia-Pacific region, Amazon now has a total of 57 renewable energy projects. By the end of 2021, the company had reached 85% renewable energy across its business.

Amazon's renewable energy plan syncs with the Centre's clean energy aim. The government plans to replace 30,000 megawatt (MW) of thermal power with renewable energy by 2025-26. It eyes achieving 500 gigawatt (GW) of non-fossil fuel-based installed capacity by 2030.

The year-wise trajectory for replacement of thermal power will be 4,737 MW (9,129 billion units) in 2023-24, 8,290MW (15,976 BU) in 2024-25 and 10,658 MW (20,541 BU) in 2025-26. 

While central-owned power stations will replace 33,260 BUs from 17,258 MW capacity, state-owned power stations will replace 12,386 BUs from 6,427 MW and the private sector has to replace 12,224 BUs from 6,343 MW, according to the ministry.