(Photo from MDA)
- The vice president of public policy for the Americas at Amazon Web Services chats about being recruited to Mississippi, the deal’s unique energy needs, and the next milestone.
Before Amazon announced its planned $10 billion investment in Mississippi on January 25, the company had already invested $2.3 billion in the Magnolia State.
Shannon Kellogg, who leads public policy for Amazon Web Services (AWS) in the Americas, chatted with Magnolia Tribune about being recruited to Mississippi and the project’s unique energy needs.
Amazon is now positioned to ensure a total of 1.3 gigawatts of renewable energy projects for a combination of new wind and solar farms being built across Mississippi. What had to happen economic development-wise for Amazon to be in that position?
Amazon has had a long-term commitment to Mississippi. We’ve been investing there as a company now for a number of years. Prior to the new AWS data center announcement, we had already invested over $2 billion in the state, so we were already familiar with Mississippi and doing business there; it’s a business-friendly state. Now we’re planning to invest another $10 billion as part of the AWS data center expansion.
We also felt like we could bring value to Mississippi, not just through our investment and job creation, but (also) with what we’re doing in terms of our broader renewable energy and carbon-free goals. Specifically, we felt like there would be an opportunity to invest in renewable projects in Mississippi as we were looking at doing this broader data center investment.
Amazon started to ramp up our renewable energy investments globally over a decade ago. And now, here we are with this new investment in Mississippi, building renewable energy projects in the state.
Can you tell us about your project with Entergy Mississippi and the role the company played in bringing AWS to Mississippi?
Entergy has been a fantastic partner, both in terms of the partnership around the broader data center investment and how this supports our renewable energy goals. We just announced earlier this year that we met our goal to match all of the electricity used across our operations with 100 percent renewable energy, which was seven years ahead of our original timeline. We initially had a goal of being 100 percent renewable by 2030, and in fact, we met that goal by the end of 2023.
As we were working with Entergy on the broader $10 billion investment, we also inked a deal with them to enable 650 megawatts of new renewable energy projects in Mississippi over the next three years. And that 650 megawatts, once operational, will help power Amazon’s local operations as we build out our data center infrastructure. The agreement also provides the funding for future upgrades to the local grid and energy infrastructure over the next two decades. With our partnership with Entergy, we’re now poised to enable a total of 1.3 gigawatts of new renewable energy in the state. We’re excited about this!
AWS builds data centers all around the world. Anything unique in working with Entergy and the State of Mississippi?
Entergy and the state have been fantastic partners. State leaders have created a very business-friendly environment through deliberate policy and educational choices over the years.
At AWS, we always look at the whole picture when we’re looking at investing in a region. And we’re looking at the policies across the landscape, and Mississippi had been leaning in to create an environment (that) would position the state as a center of innovation and investment.
In fact, as we put this deal together, both the broader deal and then the specific partnership with Entergy, the leaders from both groups have made it really easy to put together this broader set of investments. We’re really pleased with the collaboration so far.
What’s the next significant energy milestone?
As we look ahead, we’ll be looking at how to align to our Climate Pledge commitment to reach net zero carbon by 2040. That will be the next big milestone in terms of looking at our carbon-free journey.
