Meta seals solar PPA with Longroad Energy as firms' US renewables partnership hits 1.3GW
1000 Mile array adds 300MW of clean capacity to Facebook parent's fast-growing data centre operations in Texas
New Zealand-backed developer Longroad Energy has sealed a long-term virtual PPA (VPPA) with Meta for the entire output of its 1000 Mile 300MW solar array in Texas, boosting their collaboration on renewable energy projects to more than 1.3GW in the US.
"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% clean and renewable energy," said Urvi Parekh, head of energy at Meta.
VPPAs allow corporate renewable buyers to commit to green energy without taking physical delivery of the electricity and are based on variable-priced cash flow and renewable energy certificates or credits (RECs).
In the US, each REC is evidence that 1MWh of electricity was produced from an eligible renewable energy facility. RECs have variable value based on market factors such as demand and are tradable.
The array in far northwest Texas is scheduled to begin commercial operation in 2026. Longroad’s backers are Infratil, a global infrastructure investor based in Wellington, and NZ Super Fund, with headquarters in Auckland.
1000 Mile is the first solar or wind project that Longroad has successfully developed within the state’s Southwest Power Pool (SPP) footprint.
Texas has four power grids in operation. Ercot, which covers 75% of the state’s territory and 90% of its population, is the largest. SPP is second largest, supplying electricity to parts of east and northwest Texas and northern Panhandle region.
Texas is the largest US state electric power market. It has more grid-scale solar, wind, and battery storage in operation (74.3GW) and in construction and advanced development (28GW) than any state.
After online retail giant Amazon, Facebook owner Meta is the world’s second largest corporate buyer of clean energy, according to consultancy BloombergNEF.
Meta operates 23 data centres in the US with two located in Texas, according to the company’s website.
Energy analytics firm Wood Mackenzie in October identified Texas as the country’s second largest data centre growth market after Virginia with about 4.5GW in capacity growth announcements since the start of 2023.
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