Recently Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos tweeted that Amazon has installed more than 6000 solar panels on the roof of on Amazon fulfillment center in Baltimore. The Baltimore project is just the latest step in Amazon’s goal to have rooftop solar systems installed on at least 50 of its different sortation and fulfillment centers by 2020.
“We’re expecting about a 30 percent savings in our overall energy bill, which is great because we can pass those savings on to our customers,” says the Baltimore fulfillment center’s general manager, Shan Byrne.
Rooftop #solar panels at our 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center in Baltimore now live. 50+ solar FCs will come online by 2020. pic.twitter.com/eUpoxZ0eTt
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) June 14, 2017
Amazon plans to have 15 of its fulfillment center making use of solar power by the year’s end.
Amazon originally announced the program in March, commenting that it expected its rooftop installations to generate around 41 MW of electricity, thus fulfilling around 80% of a center’s power needs at the end of 2017.
Meanwhile, even should Amazon fulfill its goal of 50 centers with solar power, the company already has more than 100 redistribution and fulfillment centers across the United States, meaning that they have plenty of further opportunities to employ solar power.
Amazon is also investing heavily in large-scale wind and other renewable energy projects around the country through various purchase deals with utilities. Their current projects are expected to generate some 3.6 million MWh of renewable energy upon completion.
The company has not made the cost of its renewable energy projects public, though it is probably a significant source of profit for solar and wind installers. The company is even working with Tesla and its SolarCity subsidiary on its new installations.
