As part of the company’s efforts to install 5o solar systems by 2020, on Tuesday, Amazon announced the launch of a 1.1 megawatt solar rooftop installation on its North Las Vegas fulfillment center.
The system is comprised of 3,145 individual solar modules on the roof of their 813,000 square foot facility. This is Amazon’s 28th renewable energy system installed and the 17th in the last 18 months. The company’s commitment to renewable energy is part of a much larger long-term goal to become 100% renewable.
Tom Chandlee, Senior Manager of Renewable Energy at Amazon, said of the project:
It’s exciting to see 17 of these solar rooftop systems go live in just over one year These projects are important steps toward our renewable energy goal and we hope they inspire our employees, customers, and communities as we work together to bring more renewable energy online in the coming months and years.
Amazon’s commitment to becoming fully renewable has been a concerted effort as of late. The company ranked third in installed solar capacity for 2017 with 17.5 MW of projects, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association’s (SEIA) 2017 Solar Means Business report. This put Amazon behind only Target and GGP Inc. The same report has Amazon ranked tenth in total installed solar capacity at 34 MW, an almost meteoric one-year rise, as Amazon wasn’t even in the top-25 in the 2016 report at 16.5 MW installed capacity.
Not only are supporters of the facility pleased by Amazon’s commitment to renewables, but by the impact that this and previous installations have had on local economies.
“Projects like Amazon’s solar rooftop installation will help propel Nevada’s economy into the future and solidify our state’s position as the Innovation State,” said U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D), NV. “It will also contribute to the state’s leadership in solar energy production and green jobs. Nevada shares Amazon’s commitment to promoting sustainability and championing renewable energy projects that are good for the environment and that create good paying jobs for Nevadans.”
Nevada is the fourth state to host an Amazon fulfillment center solar facility, joining its predecessors New Jersey, Maryland and California. The system uses solar panels and inverters provided by Sol Systems, as part of the two companies’ 2017 partnership.
Amazon Web Services, recognized independently of Amazon by SEIA, contracted for 260 MW of off-site solar in Virginia in 2017.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.