Ctg sit23 hub banner.jpg

Amazon lobbying against datacentre clean energy bill

Amazon is lobbying against the Oregon datacentre clean energy bill, report

Image:

Amazon is lobbying against the Oregon datacentre clean energy bill, report

The Oregon bill seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity used by high energy use facilities in the US state

Amazon is working behind the scenes to neuter a datacentre clean energy bill put forward by the US state of Oregon, reports suggest.

The House Bill 2816 (HB2816) requires datacentre owners in Oregon to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions by switching completely to renewable energy sources by 2040.

Amazon has publicly expressed its commitment to green energy and has set a goal of achieving zero carbon emissions by 2040.

In January, the company announced that it had purchased a record-breaking 8.3GW of wind and solar power in 2022, further demonstrating its commitment to renewable energy.

However, the company is frequently accused of greenwash, a finding backed up by Computing's own research which found Amazon to be one of the least transparent of the big cloud vendors.

"There is no question that Amazon was lobbying against this bill from the very first moment," Democratic Representative Pam Marsh, a sponsor of the clean energy bill, told Oregon Live.

She said Amazon's representatives have been actively working against the bill by lobbying lawmakers in Salem during the winter.

Oregon Live reached out to Amazon for comment on the clean energy bill, but the company did not respond to their messages. However, the firm did send us this response:

"Amazon is taking real, tangible, short and long-term measures to combat climate change, and as the world's largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy, we are on a path to powering our operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025 - five years ahead of our original commitment.

A number of organisations, including Amazon, oppose HB2816 because the bill does not address the build-out of electric infrastructure that is needed to bring more clean energy to the grid. Building new renewable projects requires infrastructure investments in the grid and today there are hurdles in key areas like permitting and interconnection.

"Accelerating energy infrastructure permitting and interconnections for renewables like solar and wind would have a greater impact on reducing emissions, bringing more clean energy to the grid, and helping achieve our goal of accessing more clean energy in Oregon.

"We look forward to working with the State, industry, and community leaders to better enable renewable energy development in Oregon."

House Bill 2816 was introduced in January 2023 and has been sponsored by Representative Pam Marsh, Democrat Senator Michael Dembrow and Representative Mark Gamba.

The bill seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity used by high energy use facilities in Oregon at set intervals.

According to the bill's requirements, all such facilities must reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to 60% below baseline emissions by 2027, 80% by 2030, 90% by 2035, and ultimately achieve 100% reduction by 2040.

As per the House Bill 2816, the baseline emissions level is defined as 0.428 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per megawatt-hour of electricity consumed.

Facilities that fall under the purview of this bill must submit an annual report to the Department of Environmental Quality to demonstrate their compliance with the prescribed emission reduction targets.

The bill proposes a penalty of $12,000 per megawatt-hour of violation per day for facilities that fail to comply with the prescribed emission reduction standards.

In addition, tax breaks will be withheld from such facilities.

However, the bill does provide exemptions for smaller operators whose facilities or campuses use less than ten megawatt-hours.

Although the Oregon State Assembly has not yet voted on the bill, there is reason to believe that it may be successful.

In 2021, former Governor of Oregon, Kate Brown, signed a similar bill into law, which is designed to phase out fossil-fuel power plants over the next two decades.

Oregon currently houses datacentres for several major tech companies, including Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Twitter.

The location is popular due to property tax incentives that were originally introduced in 1985 for factories.

According to Oregon Live, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google have cumulatively saved $650 million in property taxes on their Oregon server farms since opening.

However, no major tech company has taken a public position on the HB2816 as of yet.

If passed into law, the HB2816 could pose challenges for Amazon, which operates four datacentres located along the Columbia River.

Reports suggest that AWS intends to double its investment in the region over the next four years.

Unlike Apple and Facebook, which have constructed renewable energy projects to power their Oregon datacentres, Amazon's facilities in Morrow and Umatilla counties rely mainly on carbon-burning fuel sources for most of their electricity demands.

Last year, Oregon Live published a report indicating that carbon emissions from the utility that serves Amazon have increased, with emissions per megawatt-hour rising by 543% since 2010.

The bill is set for a committee vote on Monday afternoon. If the bill fails to gain enough support, Marsh has stated that she might withdraw it.

However, if the bill dies, she plans to revive the issue at next year's session.

Amazon lobbying against datacentre clean energy bill

The Oregon bill seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity used by high energy use facilities in the US state

Green

Cloud big three sign open letter urging datacentre kit suppliers to step up

Corporate

Amazon warehouse workers in Coventry narrowly reject historic union vote

Public Sector

National Grid is turning analogue to digital - Ctrl Alt Lead podcast