Silicon Ranch and Strata Solar have partnered for the development of three solar plants totaling 202.5MW to power Facebook’s data center in Newton County, Georgia.
Image: Facebook’s data center in Georgia. Photo: Courtesy of Silicon Ranch.
In March this year, Facebook had chosen Walton EMC as the power supplier for the Data Center when the 970,000 square foot facility was announced.
This data center in Newton is Facebook’s ninth such state-of-the-art facility in the country.
Walton EMC CEO Ronnie Lee said: “We are happy to welcome Silicon Ranch and Strata Solar to the quality partnership of Facebook, Walton EMC and Morgan Stanley to complete the groundbreaking energy supply arrangement for Facebook’s Newton Data Center.
“Our unique agreements will serve as models for similar projects all across the country and bring noteworthy economic rewards locally.”
The total investment for the three solar plants is expected to reach over $230m.
The three solar plants include the Silicon Ranch Project with 102.5MW capacity, Calhoun with 80MW and Colquitt 20MW. The first project will be completed next year and the remaining two are expected to be completed in 2020.
The two solar companies stated that the three solar power plants can benefit the local communities economically, with ripple effects that can be felt across the state. Construction phase of the three solar projects will create more than 800 jobs. The operational phase will create permanent jobs.
Facebook data center strategy vice president Rachel Peterson said: “We are thrilled to be working with Walton EMC, Silicon Ranch and Strata Solar to bring more than 200MW of new solar resources to Georgia.
“We are committed to supporting all of Facebook’s operations with 100% renewable energy and these new solar facilities will help us meet that goal for our Newton Data Center. Developing these resources within the same electric grid that supports our data center will bring even more investment to the region.”
In June, Silicon Ranch had partnered with Green Power EMC to build four solar plants in the US state of Georgia, totaling 194MW.