Amazon subsidiary looks to wind power to meet energy needs of cloud-based subsidiary in North Carolina. File Photo by UPI/Pat Benic |
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SEATTLE, July 15 (UPI) -- The first utility-scale wind farm in North Carolina is part of a broader effort to reduce the carbon footprint, an arm of online retailer Amazon announced.
The technology infrastructure division of the retailer, Amazon Web Services, announced it contracted Iberdrola Renewables to help build and operate a 208 megawatt wind farm in North Carolina. Dubbed Amazon Wind Farm U.S. East, the facility will generate about 670,000 megawatt hours of electricity and be the state's first utility-scale wind farm once up and running by December 2016.
The Amazon subsidiary in November committed to getting 100 percent of its electricity needs from renewable resources, with the aim of meeting 40 percent of that goal by the end of 2016.
Jerry Hunter, a vice president for the Amazon company, said the North Carolina facility will put it over that goal once it's in full service.
"We're far from being done," he said in a statement.
In turn, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory said the facility would boost the state economy by supporting advances in the technology sector.
Apple Inc. last year advanced its renewable energy footprint in tech-heavy North Carolina, pioneered by a solar-powered data center in 2013. The Solar Energy Industries Association said retailers from Verizon to IKEA have combined to provide one of the most solar-centric technology sectors in the country.
A bill under review in the state legislature would undermine renewable energy mandates, drawing frustration from corporate entities like Apple who said it's part of what makes doing business in North Carolina attractive.
"We'll continue working with our power providers to increase their renewable energy quotient, and we'll continue to strongly encourage our partners in government to extend the tax incentives that make it more viable for renewable projects to get off the ground," Amazon's Hunter said.
