Amazon invests in renewable energy for data centers in Mississippi

Delta Wind Project, Tunica County, Missouri (photo: AES).

Amazon is building solar and wind farms across Mississippi.

In January 2024, Amazon’s cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services (AWS). announced that it plans to invest $10 billion to build two data center complexes in Madison County, Missouri, which will represent the largest single capital investment in the state’s history.

Now, Amazon is entering into a first-of-its-kind agreement with local utility Entergy to enable 650 megawatts of new renewable energy projects in Mississippi over the next three years. This capacity will help power Amazon’s local operations and provide funding for future upgrades to the local grid and energy infrastructure over the next two decades.

Amazon is poised to bring a total of 1.3 gigawatts of new, zero-emission energy to Mississippi through a combination of new solar and wind farms being built across the state. According to Amazon, the projects will generate energy equivalent to powering 303,000 U.S. homes and provide the grid with new sources of carbon-free energy, while also providing power to local data centers, stores and fulfillment centers.

These additional projects include Delta Wind, the state’s first utility-scale wind farm along the Mississippi Delta. Moreover, as part of the global computing cloud training initiativeAWS will build a first-of-its-kind training center in Mississippi to support careers in cloud computing infrastructure with AWS.

The new Amazon Community Workforce Accelerator in Madison County will offer a range of employee development programs focused on roles within and beyond AWS data centers and learning labs.

It also includes equipment and support to practice data center and network/fiber skills, community gathering spaces, and other support including interview coaching and mentoring.

“Our commitment to the Magnolia State is multi-faceted,” said Kevin Miller, AWS vice president of global data centers. in corporation blog post. “In addition to the direct benefits of new technical jobs and local investment, we are excited to work with local colleges and schools to accelerate the development of local talent, deliver new programs that educate people of all ages, and plan to help sponsor important local events. Amazon is the world’s largest corporate buyer of renewable energy, and we are pleased to partner in delivering 650 megawatts of new solar projects to help power our operations in Mississippi.