Amazon has reached a critical milestone of 50 carbon-free energy projects in the UK, becoming the largest purchaser of carbon-free energy for the fifth year running.

The company confirmed this after signing a new Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with egg Power, owned by Liberty Global, for the Chirmorie Wind Farm in Scotland. This brings Amazon’s total UK carbon-free energy capacity to more than 1GW once all projects are fully operational – enough to power the equivalent of more than 1.2 million UK households every year.

“Our 50th renewable energy project is an important part of our commitment to the UK,” said John Boumphrey, Amazon UK country manager. “Backing locally produced carbon-free energy matters for both the communities where we operate and for the country’s long-term energy security.”

The PPA for the Chirmorie Wind Farm is expected to provide 90MW of wind energy. Investments like this help to improve grid reliability and infrastructure, Amazon said. This is in addition to powering innovation, emerging technologies and creating construction jobs in local areas – areas where Amazon’s £40 billion commitment to the UK (2025-2027) that are being supported, the company added.

Ilesh Patel, who leads the egg Power business at Liberty Global, said that an investment like this is a landmark moment for the UK renewable energy sector.

“Our mission is to deliver renewable energy to meet the fast-growing demand for affordable, secure, sustainable electricity from telecoms and digital infrastructure companies,” he explained. “There are large numbers of projects that lack the customers and funding to move them from a vision to reality and we are proud to collaborate with customers like Amazon to turn them into infrastructure as part of the UK’s transition to carbon-free energy.”

Amazon has adopted a strong role in scaling renewable energy capacity in the UK by acting as an anchor offtaker through renewable energy PPAs that have enabled projects to reach deployment. Its 50 UK projects include nine offsite wind and solar farms and 41 onsite solar installations on logistics centres and other Amazon buildings.

A recent independent study by Frontier Economics found that Amazon has invested £3.5 billion in carbon-free energy, transport electrification and sustainable packaging in the UK over the past five years. The company said this has enabled them to support up to 34,000 jobs and generate an additional £2 billion in economic value.

The findings come as the UK as a nation is focused on moving away from imported gas and towards local renewable power. Investments like Amazon’s can help to improve the modernisation of energy infrastructure and support grids to be more stable and self-reliant, while keeping electricity costs affordable for people.

It also comes as the country faces its hottest June on record this week.

“Our clean energy mission is sparking a boom for investment in wind and solar projects, powering millions of homes and businesses, and creating good jobs across the UK,” said Michael Shanks, Minister for Energy in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. “This investment milestone by Amazon is another vote of confidence in clean, homegrown energy as the route to energy security, getting bills down for good and tackling the climate crisis.”

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