19 Jan Amazon’s first wind farm will help power its AWS data centers from January 2016
Amazon joined existing big-name tech companies last year when it committed to running its cloud-based “Amazon Web Services (AWS)” technology entirely on renewable energy. Though that promise remains a lofty long-term goal, the company is making new inroads to meet its commitment: Amazon has signed a 13-year partnership with Pattern Energy Group to “support the construction and operation of a 150 megawatt (MW) wind farm,” the company revealed today in a press release.
The new wind farm will be built in Benton County, Indiana, and will be called — drum roll — the “Amazon Web Services Wind Farm (Fowler Ridge).”
Plans are afoot to start generating around 500,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of power from as early as January 2016. For context, the average residential electricity consumer in the U.S. used around 10,837 kWh in 2012, or 903 kilowatthours (kWh) per month. So Amazon estimates that its new farm will help power the equivalent of around 46,000 homes each year.