Facebook and Pacific Power are teaming up to construct solar projects for its data centers in Prineville, Oregon.
Data centers use large amounts of energy to run and cool the computers inside. The solar power for Facebook’s Prineville campus is roughly equivalent to the energy use of 100,000 Northwest homes. The company declined to say how much it will cost to build the solar projects or how the cost of the clean energy will compare to what it pays now.
Facebook’s data center in Prineville, Oregon will be supported by 100 percent renewables from new solar energy developments.
Facebook’s partnership with Pacific Power will result in 437 megawatts of new solar power capacity being constructed, including two solar farms totaling 100 megawatts to be built in the Prineville area.
More than 350 people are working full-time at the data center, which already has solar panels on-site to power its offices, making it a major employer in the town of ~10,000 people.
Facebook is drawn by tax breaks, has three data centers in the Central Oregon community and is adding two more.
Reference- USNews