Amazon Launches Solar Energy Initiative in India; Installs Solar Energy Systems in 2 Fulfillment Centres in India

Amazon India has announced a new initiative to generate clean energy through installation of solar panels on the rooftops of its fulfillment centres and sortation sites in India. Currently, Amazon India has already installed close to 1600-kilo watts (kW) of solar power panels at its 2 fulfillment centres in Delhi and Hyderabad.

The company plans to further deploy large-scale solar panel systems on rooftops of an additional 5 fulfillment centres and 2 sortation sites located in Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai while further expanding existing capacity in Delhi. With this deployment, by the end of 2018, Amazon India will be able to generate solar energy close to 8,000 kW. Installations at these fulfillment and sort centres would cover an area of approximately 1 million square feet, reduce CO2 emission by around 9000 tons a year and provide energy to support the building’s annual energy needs.

Akhil Saxena, Vice President, Customer Fulfillment, Amazon India, said, “At Amazon, we are putting our scale and our inventive culture to work on sustainability and protecting the environment. We are committed to and invested in this work because it’s a triple win – it’s good for business, good for the planet, and good for our customers and communities. The installation of the solar panels at fulfillment centres in Hyderabad and Delhi reinstates this commitment and by the end of 2018, we plan to expand this installation to an additional 7 Amazon Operations sites in India. The investment in solar energy systems in India is in line with Amazon’s vision to deploy solar systems on 50 fulfillment and sortation centers globally by 2020.”

Amazon India has also extended this commitment to protect the environment, to the communities around its fulfillment centres. It has set up solar energy systems in 4 Amazon Cares Community and Resource Centres in Haryana, which provide solar power to support the community programs in these centres all year round. The company has also donated solar energy systems to 19 government schools and 1 mini-planetarium in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra. This infrastructure supports the needs of children in schools and others from the local communities in 24 villages benefitting more than 2500 people across Haryana and Maharashtra. 

Other recent environment-friendly projects include the rejuvenation of the Mahadevpura Lake in Bengaluru where Amazon India has teamed up with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and United Way Bengaluru to construct a sewage treatment plant designed to clean up to 1 million litres per day. In the coming weeks, Amazon India will plant more than 10,000 saplings around its fulfillment centres in addition to rolling out an environmental awareness campaign for its associates across its more than 200 operations sites across the country.