You can download Kanye West on Amazon, but they are looking at another West – the Moray West Wind Farm

This news item caught the team’s eyes this month and though, at first, it may surprise, there is some logic in Jeff Bezos’ taking a financial interest in renewable energy.

If you’ve been stuck in a 1993 time warp, let’s remind you of Amazon’s meteoric rise. Amazon began in 1994 when Bezos formed a plan for an online bookstore in Seattle. Perhaps he was suffering from insomnia, or sleepless in Seattle when the idea struck him. He originally called the concept Cadara Inc, and began digital selling from his website and garage in July 1995.

Shrewdly, he changed the name to Amazon pre-launch, as he wanted to appear first alphabetically, before Google Search became more sophisticated. And it worked. Shares were issued in July 1997 at $18 each.

The rest is the stuff of legend, as we all know.

Amazon Services

Like Apple, Amazon makes much of its revenue not from physical sales (though they are huge) but from services:

  • Cloud computing (Amazon Web Services – AWS)
  • Streaming services (Amazon Prime Video, Kindle and Amazon Music)
  • Smart devices (Amazon Echo and Alexa)

Moray West and Amazon

Shrewd business operation that it is, Amazon is now looking at wind power. Jeff Bezos is leading the search and the 882 MW Moray West offshore wind farm came up on his radar.

Amazon is currently obtaining 90% of its electricity from renewable sources after pouring billions of pounds into around 400 wind and solar energy projects around the world.

Moray West is a new offshore wind farm project and the video below explains the wind farm’s ambitious plans perfectly.

What is timely too about this article is the start date.

The installation of transition pieces (TPs) at Scotland’s Moray West offshore wind farm is expected to start on or around 23 January.

That is next week.

The companies involved in this exciting new project include:

  • Ocean Winds
  • Boskalis
  • DEME – its vessels Apollo and Orion
  • Siemens Gamesa

The 180 blades for the project’s 60 turbines are being manufactured in Hull, just up the A15 from us, by Ocean Winds, in its expanded factory. The blades are the longest ever used in a UK wind farm too.

Adam Morrison, Ocean Winds UK Country Manager is rightly proud:

“This is a fantastic milestone in our close working with Siemens Gamesa on our journey to commission these huge next-generation wind turbines.

“With each blade slightly longer than an international football pitch the scale of the engineering is impressive. We now look forward to ensuring the same high quality and high safety standards are achieved across all the wind turbine components prior to marshalling and pre-assembly in the north of Scotland, ready for installation of this class leading technology in 2024.”

This is a project that we all should celebrate loudly too, as a fantastic combination of engineering prowess and shrewd investment.

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