Amazon’s first Scottish wind farm comes online

Amazon’s first Scottish wind farm project has come online, helping to supply the internet giant’s power-hungry warehouses and data centres.

The facility, located on the Kintyre Peninsula, is one of the largest unsubsidised onshore wind farms in operation in the UK.

Amazon is purchasing 100 per cent of the output from the 50 megawatt (MW) wind farm, which is expected to deliver enough energy to power the equivalent of 46,000 UK homes.

The online retailer is the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in Europe with announced investments to supply in excess of 2.7 gigawatts (GW) of new electricity production capacity.

The Amazon wind farm facility, located on the Kintyre Peninsula, is one of the largest unsubsidised onshore wind farms in operation in the UK.

The energy generated from these projects will power Amazon and AWS data centres, corporate offices and fulfilment centres across the UK.

John Boumphrey, UK country manager for Amazon, said: “Amazon is on a path to powering our operations with 100 per cent renewable energy by 2025, five years ahead of schedule. We are excited that our first Scottish wind farm is now contributing to that goal, and we have three more large-scale renewable projects in development across the UK.”

Lindsay McQuade, chief executive of ScottishPower Renewables, said: “If we’re going to reach net zero over the next 30 years, we need to quadruple the amount of renewable energy produced in the UK so we can move away from petrol and diesel cars; electrify public transport; get rid of gas boilers and move to electric heating for our homes; and lower emissions from heavy industry and the goods and services we rely on every day.”

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