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.
The news comes as technology companies are ramping up their AI ambitions, adding data centers at a dizzying pace and boosting power demand to the point where half of all new AI servers could suffer from a power shortage 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 deploy 500 megawatts of small modular nuclear reactors starting in 2030. Amazon has signed a deal with X-Energy for 300 megawatts that will be brought online in the early 2030s.
Meta, which should not be left out, announced in December that it was seeking bids from nuclear developers to produce between 1 and 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 is backing a $20 billion rolling deal with Intersect Power and TPG Rise, and Microsoft is working with Acadia Infrastructure Capital on a $9 billion deal.
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.