Amazon AWS: AWS to offtake from Mercury's Turitea wind farm to power new Auckland region

Amazon has announced that it has inked a new Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) in New Zealand Mercury to procure wind energy. The giant will procure around half the output from the local energy company's 103MW Turitea South onshore wind farm; which is more than is required to fuel Amazon Web Services (AWS) Asia Pacific (Auckland) Region data centers when they launch. This is the giant's first renewable energy project in New Zealand.

Speaking about the project, Vince Hawksworth, chief executive of Mercury NZ, said that the deal, in addition to "shifting the dial on decarbonization" at home, also means that it's supporting a major global company with their decarbonization goals. Hawksworth added: "We're committed to delivering on our strong pipeline of new renewable generation and arrangements like this will help us get there faster. It's great to welcome AWS' data centers to New Zealand and we're happy to be powering their Kiwi operations in a way that supports renewable generation."

Meanwhile, Tiffany Bloomquist, country manager for commercial operations at AWS in New Zealand, said: "I'm excited to share Amazon's first renewable energy project in New Zealand with Mercury NZ, which will enable us to operate our AWS Auckland Region using renewable energy when it launches in 2024, supporting the development of additional renewable energy available for Kiwis."

Bloomquist added: "New Zealand already has a high mix of renewable energy, and it has always been our intention to add to this, by generating net new renewable energy for the national grid. Our customers and partners expect us to demonstrate our commitment to sustainability, and transitioning to renewable energy is one of the highest-impact ways to immediately lower emissions."

Further, Bloomquist said that alongside the company's investments into cloud infrastructure with the AWS Auckland Region, this project reflects the company's "deep and long-term commitment" to supporting a sustainable future for New Zealand."