IDA Ireland Welcomes Amazon’s Investment in Renewable Energy in Ireland

IDA Ireland Welcomes Amazon’s Investment in Renewable Energy in Ireland

24^th August 2020 – IDA Ireland today welcomed the announcement of Amazon’s latest investment in renewable energy in Ireland, a Wind Farm in Galway that will provide 115 megawatts (MW) of renewable capacity.

Amazon has previously announced two renewable projects in Donegal and Cork.  In total, these three projects are projected to add 229 MW of renewable energy to the Irish grid each year.

Amazon is further committed to being powered by fully renewable sources by 2025. Projects such as these are in line with targets in the Government’s Climate Action Plan and do not require subsidisation from the Public Service Obligation levy.

The data centre industry makes a large economic contribution to the Irish economy. In 2018 IDA estimated over €1 billion per annum economic benefit from data centres, not counting the large and growing employment in the companies operating those centres. Irish owned companies have been able to achieve a leading position, winning projects across Europe based on their experience building data centres in Ireland.

Speaking about today’s news of a further renewable energy project for Ireland, IDA Ireland’s Executive Director Mary Buckley said:

“Amazon’s announcement today is a welcome contribution to Ireland’s sustainability plan and builds on significant capital investment made in Ireland by Amazon Web Services (AWS) over many years. The announcement of 1,000 additional jobs by Amazon last month, which will bring its total permanent workforce across Ireland to 5,000 by 2022 highlights the real substance of this sector.”

The Galway wind farm project is expected to begin operating and contributing to Ireland’s renewable energy capacity in 2022.