Facebook has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for electricity generated by First Solar’s 122MW Cove Mountain 2 photovoltaic plant in the US state of Utah.
Under the terms of the PPA the power will be supplied to the social media company’s Eagle Mountain data centre in the state.
Cove Mountain 2 is located near the town of Enterprise in Iron County and is scheduled to begin operations in 2020.
Last year Facebook signed a PPA to use energy from First Solar’s nearby 58MW Cove Mountain solar farm for its Prineville data centre in Oregon.
First Solar expects to begin construction of Cove Mountain 2 in late 2019 and estimates that the project will generate around 450 construction jobs on average, rising to over a thousand during construction peak.
Cove Mountain 2 will supply clean solar energy to Facebook under the Schedule 34 Renewable Energy Tariff.
The scheme ables customers to work with Rocky Mountain Power to meet their renewable energy goals by facilitating the construction and contracting of new renewable energy projects.
Facebook director of energy and infrastructure at Facebook Paul Clements said: “This project is an important part of our commitment to support all of our data centres and offices with 100% renewable energy in 2020.”
Rocky Mountain Power chief executive Gary Hoogeveen said: “Rocky Mountain Power continues to develop creative ways to help individual customers such as Facebook meet their sustainability goals while keeping rates low and reliability high for all of our customers.
Once operational, Cove Mountain 2 is expected to generate electricity that is equivalent to the energy needs of 36,000 average Utah homes and will also save 800 million litres of water annually.
The project will be powered by First Solar’s US-made Series 6 modules.
First Solar project development vice president Kathryn Arbeit said: “Cove Mountain and Cove Mountain 2 demonstrate Utah’s ability to attract new long-term business partners to the state through Rocky Mountain Power’s green tariff initiative.
“Iron County’s decision to incentivize solar development in portions of rural Utah has positioned it as a leader in solar energy and will generate several million dollars in tax revenues for the county.”