Meta adds 200 MW of solar power to its 12 GW renewable portfolio

Meta announced this week that it will purchase 200 megawatts of solar energy from multinational electricity company Engie, adding to the technology company’s large renewable energy portfolio of more than 12 gigawatts.

This news comes at a time when technology companies are ramping up their ambitions in the field of artificial intelligence, adding data centers at a dizzying pace and boosting energy demand to the point of Half of all new AI servers It could be less than necessary by 2027.

Meta has been steadily adding new capacity, announcing in December that it would build a 2-gigawatt data center in Louisiana, though that campus will be powered by natural gas. The new solar farm is located a short distance from one of Meta’s existing data centers in Texas.

Technology companies have been courting nuclear startups, announcing a series of deals late last year. Google and Kairos have teamed up to Deployed 500 MW of small modular nuclear reactors starting in 2030. Amazon has signed a deal with X-Energy For 300 MW Which will be available online in the early 2030s.

Meta, not to be left out, made the announcement in December Search for suggestions Nuclear power developers will build 1 to 4 gigawatts of power by the early 2030s as well. Companies have until February 7 to submit their plans.

But even as nuclear power has grabbed a lot of the headlines, renewables have quietly continued to add capacity, allowing companies like Meta to expand their computing power today. Google supports a A renewable deal worth $20 billion With Intersect Power and TPG Rise, Microsoft is working with Acadia Infrastructure Capital on a project A deal worth $9 billion.

The speed at which renewable energy sources can be deployed will be one of the biggest challenges facing nuclear energy startups. For example, Meta’s new solar farm is expected to be operational in 2025.