Summary
- Amazon will take 36MW of generation from Statkraft’s Mossy Hill wind farm.
- The eight-turbine Shetland project is expected to become operational in November 2030.
- The deal extends Amazon’s UK renewable procurement, which now exceeds 1GW of contracted project capacity.
Amazon has signed a power purchase agreement with Statkraft for 36MW from the planned Mossy Hill wind farm near Lerwick in Shetland, adding another long-term renewable contract to its UK energy portfolio.
Amazon said the agreement covers output from the eight-turbine onshore wind project, which is expected to become operational in November 2030.
The company now says it has more than 50 carbon-free energy projects in the UK, representing more than 1GW of capacity. The portfolio includes offsite wind and solar agreements as well as solar installations associated with its logistics estate.
The Shetland contract is not tied publicly to the consumption of a particular Amazon data centre. It should therefore be treated as part of the company’s wider electricity procurement rather than described as a dedicated supply arrangement for a specific AWS facility.
PPAs are becoming part of the capacity strategy
Large technology companies have become significant corporate buyers of renewable electricity as data centre demand increases. Long-term PPAs can provide developers with revenue certainty while allowing the buyer to contract generation against its wider electricity consumption.
The model is particularly relevant for companies whose load is growing faster than the electricity infrastructure around individual data centre markets. A PPA can support additional generation elsewhere on the system even when the physical electrons are not delivered directly from the project to a particular campus.
That distinction matters in Shetland. Mossy Hill will generate into the wider electricity system, while Amazon’s UK data centre and business operations draw power from the networks to which their facilities are connected.
Statkraft said the contract provides certainty to move the project forward. Turbine delivery is expected in 2029, followed by operation in 2030.
Shetland has strong wind resources but historically limited connection to mainland Britain. The growth of renewable projects in the islands has therefore depended heavily on transmission infrastructure capable of exporting generation.
Generation contracts do not remove grid constraints
For data centres, renewable procurement and grid access remain separate problems. An operator can contract enough annual renewable generation to match its consumption and still face a multi-year wait for a physical connection at the development site.
That is why PPAs increasingly sit alongside, rather than replace, work on transmission reinforcement, private-wire arrangements, batteries, and flexible connections.
Amazon’s latest agreement also lands as UK policymakers focus on speeding the delivery of network infrastructure and reforming the connections process. The government launched Great British Grid on 29 September with a remit to invest in network projects and support faster connections.
The parallel developments show the two sides of the power equation. New generation has to be financed and built, but the grid must also be capable of carrying it to the demand centres where compute, industry, transport, and buildings are consuming more electricity.
For Amazon, the Mossy Hill agreement adds to a large corporate procurement portfolio and gives Statkraft a contracted buyer for the project’s output. For the data centre market, the wider question remains how quickly new renewable generation and transmission capacity can be translated into dependable power at sites where compute demand is rising.
