Canadian renewable energy company Brookfield Asset Management has established a mutual agreement with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that will see 600MW of solar and wind capacity provided to fuel Amazon’s operations. Brookfield will also employ AWS’ technology and digital capabilities to optimise its infrastructure.
The companies agreed power purchase agreements (PPAs) for 600MW capacity to power three Amazon facilities in the US, three in Europe and one in India. The Indian facility is one of Amazon’s first in the country, whilst the European locations are in Spain, Italy and Northern Ireland. The PPAs are expected to generate 1,370GWh of electricity.
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The announcement also focused on Brookfield’s decision to utilize AWS technology on its renewable energy projects to optimise performance and harvest analytics. It will utilise AWS’ analytics, internet of things, machine learning and storage capabilities to digitalise its business, streamline operational costs and automate its solar and wind assets.
Brookfield has already poured 40 petabytes of data into an AWS data lake, looking to improve equipment performance, production output and facility operations.
“AWS is helping us modernise our operational systems, giving us the scalability, reliability and innovation we need to deliver clean energy around the world. In return, Brookfield Renewable will provide renewable power to Amazon on three continents, which will help Amazon stay on path to power its operations with 100% renewable energy,” said Ruth Kent, chief operating officer at Brookfield Renewable.
Brookfield also said it has employed AWS employee safety monitoring at its sites through wearable data-collection devices that assess the situation of employees and send an alert if they are deemed to be in peril.
Howard Gefen, general manager of energy and utilities at AWS said: “Together with Brookfield Asset Management, we are advancing the use of renewable energy around the globe.”
Digital integration and optimisation of clean energy assets is a growing trend. In March, Lightsource BP signed a global partnership with a Singaporean AI software company to optimise its assets. This rise and the associated cybersecurity risks were discussed in a PV Tech Premium feature in October.
Amazon has committed to using 100% renewable energy by 2025 to power its operations, and a net zero carbon emissions model by 2040.
Earlier this month, Brookfield announced its intention to commission 10GW of clean energy assets in the next three years, following recent US renewables acquisitions.
