Wind for data: Mercury to supply Amazon from Turitea South farm

Turitea South wind farm near Palmerston North owned and operated by Mercury Energy. Photo/Supplied

Mercury Energy has signed a deal to supply Amazon Web Services (AWS) with electricity from its soon-to-be-completed Turitea South wind farm.

Under a power purchase agreement (PPA), AWS - a subsidiary of US information technology giant Amazon - will buy about 50 per cent of the renewable energy capacity of the 103 megawatt wind farm, near Palmerston North, from Mercury.

Amazon’s 50 per cent is more than will be required to power the AWS Asia Pacific (Auckland) Region data centres at launch (in 2024).

The parties said it was the first PPA for renewable energy between an energy company and a technology provider in New Zealand.

Country manager Tiffany Bloomquist said AWS planned to have its New Zealand region running on 100 per cent renewable energy by 2025.

“A ‘region’ for us is multiple data centres, so it is a significant investment - $7.5 billion over 15 years into the local Auckland infrastructure, creating 1000 jobs and adding almost $11 billion in GDP,” she said.

“Those data centres obviously ensure that Kiwis can store their data on New Zealand soil, and will also provide faster access to over 200 file services that we have today,” she said.

The parties said the agreement is long-term, which typically means 10 to 20 years.

“From a sustainability standpoint, we are aligning with the goals that we have of making sure that we are purposing energy from beyond the country’s grid mix,” she told the Herald.

AWS’s plan was to take energy from new renewable generation rather than taking power from the grid, as it exists today.

She said local centres would ensure that Kiwis could store their data on New Zealand soil and will also provide faster access to over 200 file services that it offers currently.

Mercury chief executive Vince Hawksworth said Turitea South, which follows on from the Turitea North wind farm, is a critical part of what Mercury has been trying to do as part of the decarbonisation of energy in New Zealand, and more broadly the decarbonisation of the country’s industrial base.

New Zealand is committed to a net carbon zero target by 2050.

“We have been working with AWS for some considerable time on how Turitea South could fit into their decarbonisation aspirations,” Hawksworth said.

“It’s another building block in Mercury’s long-term aspirations to continue to develop new renewables, which are going to be critical for New Zealand to deliver on those decarbonising aspirations,” Hawksworth said.

“We are fortunate to have an energy sector that is already highly renewable, but the electricity sector can do of the heavy lifting to decarbonise the rest of the economy,” he said.

Hawksworth expects to see more AWS-style deals in the future.

“We would expect to see those companies that are really progressive about how they want to position themselves in this decarbonising future - working closely with companies like us on these types of .long term arrangements.

“It’s becoming an expectation of not just consumers but also investors.

“It’s certainly a trend globally and I think New Zealand is a little bit in catchup mode because we have had such a renewable energy sector anyway.”

When commissioned in June 2023, Turitea Wind Farm - North and South - will be the country’s largest wind farm.

Mercury is already the country’s biggest wind farm operator.