Facebook owner Meta Platforms struck a deal to buy up to 150 MW of geothermal power from Sage Geosystems to supply its U.S. data centres, it said in a statement on Monday, as it races to build out the infrastructure to support its massive investments in energy-hungry artificial intelligence.
The first phase of the project should be operational by 2027 and should “significantly” expand the use of geothermal power in the United States, the social media company said.
Meta’s announcement, made as part of a U.S. Department of Energy event on geothermal development, comes as President Joe Biden’s administration is asking big technology companies to invest in new climate-friendly power generation to cover their surging electricity demand.
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That surge has been driven by the adoption of technologies like generative AI that require power-hungry data centres. This development could complicate Biden’s target of decarbonising the power sector by 2035 to fight climate change.
A Meta spokesperson told Reuters the company expected the Sage Geosystems energy to be part of the grid, rather than directly supplying any specific data centres.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
