Following regulatory approval, 100MW of solar PV will be built to provide clean power for Facebook’s data centre in New Mexico.
On October 17, New Mexico Public Regulation Commission green-lit PNM’s agreement to buy solar generation from NM Renewable Development (NMRD), a joint venture between subsidiaries of PNM Resources and American Electric Power.
NMRD will build two 50MW solar PV plants, with the first expected to come online by the end of 2019, followed by the second facility in June 2020. Each is is expected to result in approximately $70 million of investment in New Mexico and create some 200 construction jobs.
“With these two new projects, we have worked with PNM to bring 396MW of new wind and solar projects that will contribute to a greener grid and help bring more renewable energy and investment to New Mexico,” said Bobby Hollis, Facebook’s head of global energy.
Hollis credits New Mexico’s supportive environment having helped Facebook procure this amount of renewable energy so quickly.
Solar and wind projects constructed to serve Facebook are expected to total approximately $800 million of investment in New Mexico and create over 1300 construction and permanent jobs.