MCY - Amazon deal supports Mercury's renewables pipeline

Tuesday 4th April 2023

Mercury has agreed a long-term Corporate Power Purchase Agreement with Amazon for renewable energy for their Auckland data centres, planned for launch in 2024.

• Amazon will purchase around half the real time output of Turitea South (the southern section of Mercury’s Turitea wind farm) for an agreed price. Turitea South is 103 megawatt (MW) and expected to produce 370 gigawatt hours (GWh) per annum. The financial terms of the deal are confidential.

• The renewable energy from Turitea South will be used to support Amazon Web Services’s (AWS) data centres in Auckland, when they launch in 2024.

• While Mercury has a strong pipeline of renewable development, having a guaranteed consumer buying a significant amount of Turitea South’s generation means that Mercury NZ remains well positioned to continue developing renewable projects at pace.

“In addition to shifting the dial on decarbonisation at home with the development of the Turitea wind farm, this agreement means we’re also supporting a major global company with their decarbonisation goals,” said Vince Hawksworth, Chief Executive Mercury NZ.

“We’re committed to delivering on our strong pipeline of new renewable generation and arrangements like this will help us get there faster. It’s great to welcome AWS’s data centres to New Zealand and we’re happy to be powering their Kiwi operations in a way that supports renewable generation.”

“I’m excited to share Amazon’s first renewable energy project in New Zealand with Mercury NZ, which will enable us to operate our AWS Auckland Region using renewable energy when it launches in 2024, supporting the development of additional renewable energy available for Kiwis,” said Tiffany Bloomquist, country manager for commercial operations at AWS in New Zealand.

A PPA (power purchase agreement) is an electricity supply agreement, where a price is agreed for a period of supply. For the generator and the customer, the agreed price avoids the volatility risk of buying and selling on the Wholesale energy market, where the price moves around depending on current and forecast supply and demand.

ENDS

Amazon deal supports renewables pipeline

Comments from our readers

No comments yet