Meta bought 1 GW of solar this week

Meta this week signed three contracts to harvest nearly 1 gigawatt of solar power as it races to power its lofty AI ambitions.

The trio of deals brings Meta’s total solar purchases this year to more than 3 gigawatts of capacity. Solar is cheap and fast to build, and as a result, it has become a Go to Power Sources for Tech Companies As their data center fleets multiply in size.

Meta yesterday announced two deals in Louisiana that are purchasing a combined 385 megawatts of environmental properties. Both the projects are expected to be completed in two years from now.

They follow on the heels of a larger deal announced Monday in which Meta bought 600 megawatts from a giant solar farm near Lubbock, Texas. The project will start commercial operations in 2027.

Although the Texas power plant will not connect directly to the Meta data center, it will feed into the local grid, offsetting usage by the facilities.

The Louisiana deal, however, involves the purchase of certificates that allow Meta to offset its carbon-intensive energy sources.

Such environmental performance certificates (EACs), sometimes called renewable energy certificates, have been Criticized by experts To obscure the true carbon footprint of tech company operations, which have ballooned as AI boosted electricity use.

EACs were introduced years ago when renewables were expensive compared to fossil fuel generators. They let anyone buy electricity, but give companies the option to pay extra to offset their own emissions — and offset the higher costs of renewable electricity. They have helped encourage developers to build more renewable projects

But since then the cost of new solar and wind has fallen dramatically, with renewables dwarfing new fossil power and sometimes existing coal and natural gas power plants. EACs don’t offer the same incentives as before, and experts question how much additional renewable energy they stimulate.

If companies really want to offset their new energy use from AI, they should encourage developers to create new renewable capacity, experts argue.