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Amazon plans big new solar project in Illinois

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Amazon revealed details of new renewable energy projects in the U.S. and Spain Tuesday, with the tech giant seeking to ramp up the greening of its operations.

Together, the three solar projects are expected to generate nearly 700,000 megawatt hours of energy per year, which is enough to power over 67,000 homes, according to the firm.

The project in Spain will be southeast of the city of Seville and have a capacity of 149 megawatts (MW). The solar facilities in the U.S. will be in Lee County, Illinois and Northern Virginia, and will amount to a combined 180 MW.

Lee County is in northern Illinois. The county seat is Dixon.

* WREX TV…

Amazon’s newest renewable energy solar projects in the US will be located in Lee County, Illinois and Frederick County, Virginia. Together, they total 180 MW and are expected to generate almost 400,000 MWh of renewable energy annually. This will be Amazon’s first large-scale renewable energy project in the state of Illinois and ninth in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Once complete, Amazon says the three new renewable energy solar projects will provide an estimated 329 MW of additional renewable capacity supplying energy to the company’s fulfillment network in Europe and Amazon Web Services data centers, which power Amazon and millions of AWS customers globally.

“Earlier this year, we announced The Climate Pledge, setting a goal to meet the Paris Agreement 10 years early and be net zero carbon by 2040. We also plan to run on 80% renewable energy by 2024 and 100% renewable energy by 2030,” said Kara Hurst, Director of Sustainability, Amazon. “We’re committed to investing in renewable energy as a critical step toward addressing our carbon footprint globally.”

Amazon says it’s working toward 80 percent of renewable energy by 2024 and 100 percent renewable energy by 2030, on a path to net zero carbon by 2040.

* WIFR…

Lee County will also be the site of Amazon’s first large-scale renewable energy project in Illinois.

“As we work to put our state on a path to 100% clean and renewable energy, Illinois is proud to have Amazon invest in a major solar project in our state,” said Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. “Addressing climate change will take all of us working together, and leadership from state governments and the business community will demonstrate how we can sustainably power a modern economy and create good-paying jobs.”

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Dec 3, 19 @ 1:43 pm

Comments

The head of the US Republican Party said to tell you that none of this will work when it’s cloudy outside

Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Tuesday, Dec 3, 19 @ 1:53 pm
Buy for me the sun

Comment by Rabid Tuesday, Dec 3, 19 @ 1:53 pm
Somewhere in the Pekin Federal Prison, Rita Crundwell hears this news and thinks of all the world class horses she could have breeded with that Amazon tax money.

Comment by Almost the weekend Tuesday, Dec 3, 19 @ 1:57 pm
I keep hoping that solar power will truly be cost effective, and that does not mean taxpayer funded credits as a phony way to say it is cheaper.

Not only would solar power be beneficial to the climate it would allow people throughout the world to have power and perhaps even to build wherever they want and truly get off the grid.

Maybe we need the effort of the FEDS for a solar power ” Manhatten type project”- but tax funds to be used for research only.

Anyway, it’s a thought.

Comment by OpentoDiscusssion Tuesday, Dec 3, 19 @ 2:32 pm
Good location as Dixon has a number of electrical power transmission lines running through/near it.

https://tinyurl.com/symvavr

Comment by Donnie Elgin Tuesday, Dec 3, 19 @ 3:46 pm