Two Amazon-contracted solar parks go online in New South Wales

Two solar parks totalling roughly 340 MW in New South Wales, Australia, have been brought online to supply the local business of US e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), the latter said on Tuesday.

The 189-MW DC Suntop and 154-MW DC Gunnedah solar photovoltaic (PV) farms are owned by Canadian Solar Inc (NASDAQ:CSIQ). Located near Dubbo and Tamworth, respectively, the plants are expected to have a combined output of 392,000 MWh annually, which is equal to the power consumption of around 63,000 Aussie homes.

Under a deal signed back in 2020, Amazon will procure power from 105 MW of the Suntop park’s capacity, while its contract for the other project is tied to 60 MW of its capacity. The deals were part of a 262-MW power purchasing initiative in Australia, which also includes the 96.6-MW Hawkesdale wind farm being built by Global Power Generation Australia.

Last month, Amazon announced it has increased its renewable energy procurement to 15.7 GW from 12.2 GW in late 2021. The online retailer and web services provider aims to power 100% of its operations with renewables by 2025, five years earlier than its original 2030 goal. It also has a target of reaching net-zero carbon by 2040.

Choose your newsletter by Renewables Now. Join for free!