US: Meta buys 250 MW of solar power to offset rising data center energy needs

Meta, the parent company of popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and messaging services like WhatsApp, is championing a 250-megawatt (MW) solar power project in Arkansas. The tech giant has agreed to purchase the cleaner electricity the farm generates.

​The solar farm is being developed by EDP Renewables North America (EDPR NA), an American subsidiary of a Portuguese-Spanish Renewable Energy Company.

​On Wednesday (November 4), the company broke ground on Cypress Knee Solar in Chicot County, towards the southeastern end of the state. The project is expected to be completed in the next two years, said officials.

​Capacity boosts to 545 MW

Earlier in May, Meta and EDPR NA announced the deal. Under the agreement, the tech company signed a pact to support the clean energy the latter produces. Cypress Knee is the third such project among them, with Meta’s commitment to buy 545 MW from EDPR NA.

​To offset its carbon emissions, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company pledges long-term power purchases of cleaner energy. This contributes to the company’s larger goal of matching 100 percent of its annual electricity use with renewable energy generation.

​Beyond providing reliable energy to support America’s power grid, the Kansas project is expected to boost jobs and strengthen the state’s economy.

​”As energy demand continues to rise, projects like Cypress Knee Solar help strengthen grid reliability while creating jobs, generating meaningful local revenue, and delivering long-term benefits to the communities that host them,” said EDPR NA CEO Sandhya Ganapathy.

​The company estimates that the new solar farm project, once completed, is likely to bring $25 million in revenue over its lifetime.

Meta’s previous solar power purchases

​Last month, the Silicon Valley company also bought long-term power purchase agreements for a 203 MW solar project in Indiana from the Spanish renewable energy company Zelestra.

​The project is being built on reclaimed land from former coal mining operations in southwest Indiana and is expected to go live by 2027.

​The moves are in line with the company’s efforts to embrace the shift to cleaner energy.

​More and more data centers are being built across the country to provide services such as instant search results and streaming videos to hundreds of followers on social media platforms, and they 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.

​To counter their energy consumption needs from fossil fuels, the tech giants are investing in sustainable energy generation.

​Two years ago, Meta secured 300 MW of clean solar energy for its Texan data center from a Boston-based renewable energy supplier, Longroad Energy.

​The project, called 1000 Mile, with support from the technology company for the entire output, will provide solar-powered energy for Yoakum County in Texas. It has an output capacity of 300 MWac or 400 MWdc and lies 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 a previous report.