Amazon unit targets 100% renewables

U.S. retail giant Amazon has commissioned a major solar power project in Virginia that will supply energy to its data centres as part of the company’s drive towards renewables.

The Seattle based firm, the largest Internet-based retailer in the United States, has contracted Community Energy Inc to build the 80-megawatt solar farm.

The Amazon Solar Farm U.S. East project in Accomack County is scheduled to come online in October 2016, according to a company statement on Wednesday.

In November, the firm announced that its Amazon Web Services division is aiming to source 100 per cent of its energy from renewables.

Amazon Web Services currently derives 25 per cent of its energy from clean sources and is planning to increase that to 40 per cent by 2017.