How Amazon is Backing Aussie Data Centres with Green Energy

Amazon has committed AU$20bn (US$13bn) to scale its data centre footprint across Australia by 2029 with a focus on supporting AI development and cloud services.

This long-term expansion, described as the largest global tech investment ever made in Australia, also features a sustainability strategy to reduce environmental impact.

At the heart of that strategy are solar energy projects and emissions-saving AI infrastructure.

Solar energy to power digital expansion

Amazon’s plan includes investment in three new solar farms in Victoria and Queensland.

These will be delivered and operated by European Energy, with Amazon purchasing more than 170 MW of energy from the sites.

This clean electricity will help power the new data centre infrastructure, ensuring cloud computing growth doesn’t come at the environment’s expense.

The three new solar farms add to Amazon’s existing renewable portfolio in Australia, which already includes eight solar and wind projects across New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.

When all 11 are operational, they’re expected to generate more than 1.4 million mWh of carbon-free energy every year, enough to power roughly 290,000 Australian homes annually.

In 2024, Amazon ranked as the third-largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in Australia and retains its position as the largest globally.

This approach reflects a wider corporate trend of tying digital infrastructure growth to cleaner energy sources.

“We’re proud to be expanding our world-class data centre infrastructure, bringing more renewable energy projects online and supporting the country’s vision to be a global AI leader,” says Matt Garman, Chief Executive of Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Supporting a low-carbon AI transition

This investment goes beyond facilities and solar panels.

Amazon’s infrastructure will also help lower carbon emissions linked to AI computing.

According to a study by consultancy Accenture, organisations that migrate compute-heavy AI workloads to AWS cloud infrastructure can reduce emissions by up to 94%, compared with running them on on-site servers.

These emissions reductions come from AWS’s efficiencies in hardware design, energy-efficient cooling systems and the use of carbon-free energy.

This is key in the context of AI, where intensive computing can otherwise raise power usage and carbon footprints.

Amazon’s commitment to the region began in 2012 with the AWS Asia Pacific (Sydney) Region.

It added the Melbourne region in 2023 and established AWS Local Zones in Perth.

In April 2024, it launched Amazon Bedrock, a managed generative AI service, in Sydney.

The Australian government has also partnered with AWS to build classified cloud services for national security and defence purposes.

AWS’s infrastructure is expected to play a core role in helping the country realise an economic opportunity of AU$600 billion (US$390bn) in AI and automation by 2030, according to the Department of Industry, Science and Resources.

“This is the largest investment our country has seen from a global technology provider, and is an exciting opportunity for Australia to build AI capability using secure, resilient infrastructure,” says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Skills training for a green digital economy

Amazon’s focus also includes developing digital skills to support this transformation.

AWS says it has trained more than 400,000 people in Australia since 2017 and continues to back upskilling through programmes such as AWS AI Spring Australia, the AWS Generative AI Accelerator and AWS AI Launchpad.

These initiatives support early-stage startups, larger enterprises and learners looking to enter the technology field.

They are part of Amazon’s wider AI Ready initiative, which aims to deliver free AI training to two million people globally by 2025.

AWS also runs a Work-Based Learning Program offering 12-month training in data centre operations.

It collaborates with education providers, public sector organisations and private enterprises across the country to support workforce development and long-term employment.

By combining infrastructure expansion, renewable energy and workforce training, Amazon links digital transformation to environmental responsibility.

With new solar projects powering AI compute and investments in upskilling Australia’s population, the programme is geared towards a future where economic and ecological goals are closely connected.

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