Amazon signs wind PPA in New Zealand with Mercury NZ

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) on Tuesday announced a power purchase agreement (PPA) to buy about half of the generation of the 103-MW Turitea South wind farm in New Zealand.

The long-term contract is with Mercury NZ Ltd (NZE:MCY). It is Amazon’s first corporate PPA in New Zealand and also the first between an energy company and a technology group in the country.

Subscribe for Renewables Now's Corporate PPA Newsletter here for free!

Turitea South, currently under construction in Manawatu near Palmerston North, is expected to produce 370 GWh a year. According to the announcement, half of the plant's capacity will be more than what Amazon Web Services (AWS) would need to power its new data centres in Auckland when they launch in 2024.

The Turitea wind farm, including both Turitea North and Turitea South, is due to be commissioned in June 2023, when it will become New Zealand’s largest wind farm.

Mercury NZ said the PPA will help it to continue delivering renewable energy projects at pace.

Amazon is the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy, boasting a renewable energy portfolio of over 20 GW in 23 countries. Last year, it set a record for renewable energy procurement by a single company in one year with 8.3 GW of projects announced.