300 MW solar power to meet Meta’s data center demands, Longroad Energy signs deal
Meta, the parent company of popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and messaging services WhatsApp, has secured 300 megawatts (MW) of clean solar energy for its Texan data center from US-based renewable energy supplier Longroad Energy, a press release said.
Data centers that churn tons of data to provide services such as instant search results or streaming videos to hundreds of followers on social media platforms are massive consumers of electricity. With the recent addition of artificial intelligence (AI) services, tech companies are building even larger data centers to train and run AI models in the future.
This has increased the electricity consumption of tech companies manifold amidst growing concerns about climate change. With multiple billion-dollar revenues every year, there is increased pressure on tech companies to adopt cleaner sources of energy to power their operations, even if it comes at a higher cost.
Facebook-parent Meta is one of the many companies in Silicon Valley that is embracing this shift to clean energy. The recent announcement of powering its data center in Texas is a step in that direction.
300 MW solar energy deal
Last week, Boston, Massachusetts-based Longroad Energy announced that it had entered a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Meta for the entire output from its solar project in Yoakum County, Texas. Dubbed 1000 Mile, the project has an output capacity of 300 MWac or 400 MWdc.
The renewable energy company has previously developed six wind and solar projects in Texas, but 1000 Mile is its first project within the footprint of the Southwest Power Pool (SPP).
All energy generated during the 1000 Mile project will be delivered to SPP’s grid, which will then be supplied to Meta’s data center operations, according to the press release. The project is expected to begin commercial operations by 2026.
1.3 GW of renewable energy
This is not Meta’s first collaboration with LongRoad Energy on the renewable energy front.
Paul Gaynor, CEO of Longroad Energy, in the press release, said :
We are proud that 1000 Mile, our largest solar project to date, will help Meta meet its sustainability objectives,
“With the addition of 1000 Mile, Longroad and Meta will have worked together on more than 1.3 GW of projects, helping to support Meta’s ambitious goal of matching all of its operational electricity needs with new carbon-free energy.”
Urvi Parekh, Head of Energy at Meta, added :
We are excited to announce this solar project with Longroad Energy,
“The renewable energy from this project will support our data center operations, as well as our ongoing efforts to match our electricity usage with 100 percent clean and renewable energy.”
Other than Meta, Google-parent Alphabet has also announced plans to switch operations to clean energy. Earlier this year, Interesting Engineering reported that Alphabet will use wind energy to power its data centers by the end of this decade. The company is also betting on small nuclear reactors to deliver carbon-free energy for its data centers by 2035.
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300 MW solar power to meet Meta’s data center demands, Longroad Energy signs deal, source
