AWS Infrastructure 7.85 Trillion Won Investment Announcement Follow-up
Creation of 2,400 New Jobs
Amazon, which announced a 7.85 trillion KRW investment plan in domestic cloud infrastructure, is now undertaking a solar power project. This is its first renewable energy investment in South Korea.
On the 14th, Amazon announced its first renewable energy project in South Korea, a 60-megawatt (MW) solar power project. This project is expected to produce 81,211 megawatt-hours (MWh) of clean energy annually, enough to supply electricity to 25,000 Korean households each year.
This renewable energy investment follows Amazon Web Services (AWS)'s recent announcement to invest 7.85 trillion KRW (5.88 billion USD) in domestic cloud infrastructure by 2027 to meet increasing customer demand for cloud services.
The new solar power plant is expected to create approximately 2,400 jobs during its construction period. The project will supply renewable energy to the power grid that provides electricity to Amazon’s business sites, including corporate offices and AWS data centers.
This solar power project is the result of a new long-term corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) between Amazon and SK E&S, with SK E&S responsible for the construction and operation of the project. Based on Amazon’s commitment to purchase the electricity generated by this project, SK E&S secured financing guarantees and proceeded with equipment procurement and project construction, enabling the addition of renewable energy to the existing power grid.
Ham Ki-ho, CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Korea, said, "This solar power project in Korea brings Amazon one step closer to achieving its goal of supplying 100% renewable energy by 2025 and helps fulfill our commitment to provide customers with a more sustainable digital transformation."
Choo Hyung-wook, President of SK E&S, stated, "Through collaboration with global leaders like Amazon, we will actively support the decarbonization goals of not only domestic companies but also overseas corporations. SK E&S plans to continuously expand cooperation with companies in line with global efforts toward carbon neutrality and will lead domestic and international renewable energy pipelines," he added.
Amazon’s renewable energy investment is part of its Climate Pledge, which aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040?ten years ahead of the Paris Agreement target.
Amazon is striving to supply 100% of its operational power from renewable energy by 2025, five years earlier than its original target of 2030, and raised its renewable energy usage rate across its operations to 90% in 2022.
Meanwhile, as the world’s largest purchaser of renewable energy, Amazon has supported 479 renewable energy projects worldwide to date and secures clean energy capacity sufficient to supply electricity to more than 6.7 million U.S. households annually.
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