Amazon already had a contract for 350 MW of the Moray West offshore wind farm. In January 2024 it moved to take another 123 MW. That makes one technology company the largest buyer of power from an 882 MW Scottish wind farm, and it leaves surprisingly little of the project selling into the open market.
Key takeaways
- Leap records, as of 6 January 2024, that Amazon plans to sign a further power purchase agreement with ENGIE for 123 MW from the 882 MW Moray West offshore wind farm off the north-east coast of Scotland, with output estimated at 484.88 GWh a year.
- Amazon's new 123 MW Moray West PPA adds to a 350 MW PPA for the same project signed in April 2021, taking Amazon's total to 473 MW, more than half of the wind farm's capacity.
- Moray West also holds a 12-year, 100 MW PPA with Google signed in November 2022 and a Contract for Difference for 220.5 MW awarded in the UK's Allocation Round 4.
- Moray West is developed by Ocean Winds, the joint venture of EDP Renewables and ENGIE, with Ignitis having acquired a 5% stake in September 2020, and it was the first offshore wind project from Allocation Round 4 to reach financial close, on about $2.4 billion of non-recourse debt.
- Enerdatics records only two UK offshore wind PPAs announced between January 2023 and June 2024, and Amazon is the offtaker in both: 123 MW at Moray West and 159 MW at East Anglia 3.
How much of Moray West is now contracted?
Almost all of it, on Leap's figures. Add Amazon's two contracts, Google's 100 MW and the 220.5 MW Contract for Difference, and the total comes to 793.5 MW. That is about 90 percent of the wind farm's 882 MW capacity, leaving under 90 MW without a long-term contract recorded in Leap.
The trajectory is what stands out. After the Google agreement in November 2022, Leap estimated that about 84 percent of Moray West's output was contracted under long-term agreements. That estimate was measured on output rather than capacity, so it is not directly comparable with the 90 percent capacity figure. Both point the same way. Each new contract has narrowed the share of the wind farm left exposed to wholesale prices.
Leap's record is careful about status. It describes the new agreement as one Amazon plans to sign, rather than one that has been executed. The capacity and output figures are recorded, but the tariff and term are not.
Why does the government contract cover only a quarter of the wind farm?
Because the rest was sold to corporate buyers instead. A Contract for Difference, or CfD, is a UK government contract that pays a generator the gap between a fixed strike price and the market price, and claws back the difference when market prices run higher. It gives a project predictable income backed by the state.
At Moray West, the CfD covers 220.5 MW, about a quarter of the capacity. The remaining contracted volume is held by Amazon and Google. That mix means most of the wind farm's contracted capacity sits with two technology companies rather than with the government.
The financing record shows that the mix did not stop the project raising debt. In April 2023 the developers secured about $2.4 billion of non-recourse construction debt, and in July 2023 Ocean Winds added a further $127 million loan. Moray West became the first CfD Allocation Round 4 offshore project to reach financial close.
What does 484.88 GWh a year tell you about the new contract?
It implies the same performance assumption as Amazon's first contract. On Leap's figures, 484.88 GWh a year from 123 MW works out to a capacity factor of about 45 percent, meaning the turbines are expected to produce on average 45 percent of their maximum possible output over a year. Amazon's 2021 contract, at 1,379.7 GWh a year for 350 MW, implies the same 45 percent.
Google's contract is calculated differently. Leap estimates its offtake at 416 GWh a year because Google said it would take 5 TWh over the 12-year term. On 100 MW, that implies a slightly higher figure of about 47.5 percent. The two estimates are built on different bases, so the gap should not be read as a different view of the wind resource.
Together, Amazon's two contracts account for about 1,864.6 GWh a year on Leap's estimates. That is a substantial block of Scottish offshore wind output tied to one buyer.
Why is Amazon the only visible buyer of UK offshore wind?
Because almost nobody else is signing these contracts in public. Enerdatics' data shows just two UK offshore wind PPAs announced between January 2023 and June 2024, and Amazon is the offtaker in both. The second is a 159 MW agreement with Iberdrola for East Anglia 3, announced in March 2024. Neither record carries a disclosed tariff. Across that period, the publicly visible corporate market for UK offshore wind output was, in effect, one company.
What does the deal signal for UK offshore wind?
It signals that corporate offtake has become a structural part of how UK offshore wind is built, not an add-on. Moray West combines a government CfD for a quarter of its capacity with corporate PPAs for most of the rest. That structure was financeable, and it reached financial close first in its auction round.
It also signals concentration risk. When one buyer holds more than half of a wind farm's capacity and is the only named offtaker in Enerdatics' UK offshore PPA records for 18 months, its procurement choices shape which projects get built. For owners and investors, the Amazon contract can be as important to an asset's value as the turbines themselves. For other corporate buyers, Moray West shows how quickly capacity at a single project can be taken up once one large buyer commits.
Frequently asked questions
How much of Moray West has Amazon contracted? Amazon signed a 350 MW PPA in April 2021 and, by Leap's record, plans to sign a further 123 MW agreement with ENGIE, taking its total to 473 MW, more than half of the 882 MW wind farm.
Who owns the Moray West offshore wind farm? Moray West is developed by Ocean Winds, a joint venture between EDP Renewables and ENGIE, and Ignitis acquired a 5% equity stake in the project in September 2020.
What other contracts does Moray West hold? A 12-year, 100 MW PPA with Google signed in November 2022 and a Contract for Difference for 220.5 MW under the UK's Allocation Round 4.
Ready to get deal-ready answers in seconds? Try Enerdatics Leap AI and access verified intelligence across M&A, financings, PPAs, projects, and energy market developments through natural language.
.jpeg)
