Facebook might be losing reputation due to their unpopular privacy practices, but they’re still one of the largest and most influential companies in the world thanks to the data they possess. To store all that data, Facebook uses large data centers around the world. These data centers are not only large, but they also need a lot of power to work.
To satisfy the needs of their data centers, and also to keep its “green” image, Facebook will build one of the largest solar farms to date. This is their first direct investment in such a project, in partnership with Longroad Energy – a renewable energy developer from Boston. Shell Energy North America will also use power from the solar farm.
“Facebook is excited to be one of the first companies to use a direct investment to meet our renewable energy goals,” Facebook’s energy strategy manager Peter Freed said in a statement to the media.
The solar farm would have outstanding 379 megawatts of capacity, which should be enough to power Facebook’s data center near Albuquerque, New Mexico, but also another 72,000 households in the area. The project is called Prospero Solar, and it will be built near Odessa, Texas. Oh, and it will be massive – the farm will spread to 7 square miles or 18 square kilometers.
This project is another push from the company into the “green” sector of sustainable energy. Just until last year, Facebook ran its business using 75% renewable energy, a number that should reach 100% with the help of the Prospero Solar project by 2020.
“Our data centers are already some of the most energy-efficient in the world, and last year we set a goal for all our data centers and offices to use 100% renewable energy by 2020,” Zuckerberg wrote on his personal Facebook page. “These new solar projects will help us reach that goal.”
Image by Mediamodifier from Pixabay
