TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese trading company Mitsubishi Corp will enter an agreement to provide Amazon.com Inc’s European facilities with renewable energy through its Dutch unit, Eneco, the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday.
An offshore wind farm to be built by Eneco and due to come online in 2023 will supply 130 megawatts (MW) per year to multiple Amazon facilities, including its European data centre, the Nikkei said.
The move comes as Japanese trading houses are increasingly focusing on cleaner energy as they join a global shift away from coal and other fossil fuels.
Amazon, which delivers about 10 billion items a year and has a massive transportation and data center footprint, has faced protests from environmental activists and pressure from its employees to take action on climate change. It has vowed to be net carbon neutral by 2040.
Last July, a consortium between Eneco and Royal Dutch Shell, won a zero-subsidy tender to build a 750 MW wind farm in the North Sea off the coast of the Netherlands.
Eneco plans to start operating the new wind warm in 2023 and 130 MW of the total power will be reserved for Amazon, the Nikkei said.
Mitsubishi declined to comment on the deal, while Amazon was not immediately available for comment.
Mitsubishi, along with Japanese utility Chubu Electric Power Co Inc, bought Eneco last year in a deal valuing the Dutch energy firm at 4.1 billion euros ($4.9 billion).
($1 = 0.8308 euros)
(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim and Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
