December 6, 2016 | By RGR Marketing Blog

Amazon, a Leader in Cloud Computing, Is Turning to Solar for Their Servers

It all began with Amazon’s massive growth as a company. As the company continued to grow, its need for more and more data storage capability became apparent. Thanks to its innate economy, security, and ease of accessibility, cloud computing became an early solution, and Amazon built several data centers worldwide.

Due to necessity at the time, not much thought was put into how to power these data centers when they were initially constructed, and according to a 2016 report by Harvard Business School, a 2014 study called Amazon out as being the “least sustainable of all the leading cloud providers.” Since then, their power needs have only grown as several big web-based businesses (like Netflix, Pinterest, and Airbnb) came to rely solely on Amazon’s cloud storage for all their IT infrastructure and e-commerce.

An Image and Logistical Problem With an Obvious Solution

Almost immediately following the report, Amazon began converting their power sourcing to sustainable sources where it was easiest and most cost-effective, exposing themselves to continued criticism regarding the sourcing of power for its data centers in the Northeast United States. To combat this, Amazon has recently announced that it will be bringing on five new solar farms to power its data centers in the Northeast.

What Powering a Data Center Requires

Data centers are comprised of multiple high-volume computer servers, servers that take a tremendous amount of power to run, and a tremendous amount of power to keep cool via air conditioning. A typical data center can use as much power in a year as 25,000 homes in the same geographic area.

Drawing on conventional resources for this power is problematic for economic reasons, but it is also challenging in terms of availability of power and dependability during times of peak use—heat waves, etc.

Amazon’s Investment in New Solar Energy

The new solar farms that Amazon will be bringing online over the course of the year to come will all be located in the state of Virginia, the location of Amazon’s oldest and largest data center. Each solar farm is expected to deliver around 180 megawatts of clean power to the existing grid.

This will represent an expansion of Amazon’s current solar energy generation (and use) to roughly 580,000-megawatt hours of power each year. One of the farms is capable of producing 100 megawatts of clean energy, while the remaining four will produce 20 megawatts each.

Amazon Is Taking the Lead in Powering Cloud Computing With the Sun

The company that almost single-handedly revolutionized the way that many consumers shop, for better or worse, has taken the lead in moving data and processes to the cloud. Now, they are taking the lead in revolutionizing how that cloud is powered, utilizing clean energy derived from solar power.

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