Iberdrola Sign PPA with Amazon for 159 MW Offshore Windfarm in UK

Iberdrola, one of the world’s largest clean energy companies in Spain, and Amazon on Wednesday expanded their long-term global clean power partnership by signing a major renewable energy power purchase agreement (PPA) for 159 MW of East Anglia THREE offshore wind farm in the UK, equivalent to 700 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of clean electricity per-year.

Amazon has also signed PPAs with Iberdrola to enable projects in Germany, the US, and elsewhere in the UK. Over the life of these PPAs, Amazon has contracted 54,000 GWh of renewable energy from Iberdrola.

East Anglia THREE will support more than 2,300 jobs during construction, and 100 long-term jobs over the lifetime of the wind farm. The 1.4 GW project will be located 69 km off the coast of Suffolk in the UK.

The wind farm is expected to become fully operational in 2026 and will generate enough clean electricity to power the equivalent of 1.3 million British homes and will be the second biggest offshore wind farm in the world.

Capacity from East Anglia THREE will support Amazon’s commitment to match all the electricity powering its operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025 – five years ahead of the company’s original 2030 target. With more than 500 solar and wind projects globally, Amazon is also the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy since 2020.

Migrating to Cloud

Expanding on their digital partnership, the two companies also launched the global “Journey to Cloud” programme, by further migrating Iberdrola’s operations to the Cloud and leveraging AWS’s High-Performance Computing services big data services.

Projects already delivered include the use of the Cloud to halve the time it takes to run complex weather simulation, and Amazon Sagemaker Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning services to maximise the efficiency of renewable energy assets worldwide.

On Smart Grids, ScottishPower, an Iberdrola company, has built an Internet of things (IoT) platform to collect sensor data and improve the knowledge of its Low Voltage network in the UK. The two companies are designing projects to incorporate generative AI through Amazon Bedrock to improve the experience of its customers and support its field workers.

Sergio Hernández de Deza, Director of Large Customers and Industrial Solutions at Iberdrola, said that companies like Amazon are leading the corporate drive to advance the renewable energy industry, and guarantee energy security, sustainability, price stability and competitiveness.

“The two companies are joining forces in an agreement that will mean more energy independence, more local jobs and lower emissions on both sides of the Atlantic and allows Iberdrola’s business to innovate and scale at speed,” Deza added.

Lindsay McQuade, Director of Energy for EMEA at Amazon, said that they were enabling renewable projects worldwide because transitioning to carbon-free energy sources is one of the most impactful ways to lower carbon emissions and help us reach Amazon’s Climate Pledge commitment of net-zero carbon by 2040.

Two of Iberdrola’s previously announced offshore wind farms in Germany (Baltic Eagle and Windanker) will provide Amazon with 319 MW of clean energy each year, which is equivalent to the annual electricity needs of more than 314,000 European homes.

In the US, Amazon has signed agreements which include Amazon Wind Farm Osagrove Flats wind farm in LaSalle County in Illinois for 150 MW (550 GWh per annum), which can power 24,400 homes annually, and the repowered Leaning Juniper IIA for 90 MW (240 GWh per annum).