Amazon signs first renewable energy purchase agreement in Japan

Online retail giant Amazon has signed a 10-year corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) in Japan with Mitsubishi Corporation for the output from 22MW of solar PV plants.
It marks Amazon’s first renewable energy deal in the country and power from 450 separate PV plants will be supplied to its Amazon Web Services data centres. Japanese solar construction company West Holdings Corporation will build the power plants, supplying Amazon with wholesale electricity.
Mitsubishi Corporation said that two of its subsidiaries, Mitsubishi Corporation Energy Solutions and ElectroRoute, will also be involved: the Energy Solutions division will assist with constructing and offering tech support to the solar facilities, while energy services and trading group will forecast solar output and hedge imbalances in power generation.
The projects are scheduled to begin commercial operation in April 2023. The deal marks the second global PPA between Amazon and Mitsubishi, following a deal brokered earlier this year for the output of a Dutch wind farm.
While the Japan deal is relatively small but marks Amazon’s entry into the country’s renewable energy market, the retailer has become the world’s largest corporate buyer of renewable energy. Announcing 14 new renewable energy projects in the US, Canada, Finland and Spain in June, the company has invested in around 10GW of renewable energy to date.