In April 2021, Meta announced it supported 100% of its operations with renewable energy by the end of 2020. The technology giant has now turned its focus to net-zero emission across all value chains by 2030. Meta recently announced with Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Silicon Ranch for their new 70MW project which costs $90 million.
Silicon Ranch and the Tennessee Valley Authority Partner on a New Project
Under this joint agreement, TVA is the nexus of renewable energy solutions and Silicon Ranch, a long-term partner with the tech giant, is the developer of this project. The business model is that Silicon Ranch will develop, operate, maintain, and own the project and Meta will buy renewable energy from it for 20 years. It is the first project by Silicon Ranch under this model; until 2022, Silicon Ranch has completed three projects, with a total generation of 475 MW to serve Meta’s needs.
“TVA is the nexus for reliable, economical renewable energy solutions, and we have already committed $3 billion to bring more than 2,000 MW of new solar to the Valley since 2018. This public-private partnership with Meta and Silicon Ranch demonstrates the strength of TVA’s community energy model to attract capital investment and high-quality jobs into the communities we serve while helping businesses meet their sustainability goals.” Doug Perry, TVA senior vice president, commercial energy solutions
As one of the largest technology companies with its cloud server and the decision to 100% into Metaverse, Meta’s need for clear and renewable energy continues to rise. Over the past three years, Meta has cut its greenhouse emission by 94% which far exceeds the initial goal of 75%. Meta’s demand for renewable energy is increasing rapidly. It is the second-largest buyer in 2019 and the largest buyer of renewable energy in 2020 with a total of amount 1 GW. It also ranks third in the world if the calculation is based on the cumulative amount purchased since 2000.
“Solar Protocol is a great opportunity for us as artists to foreground issues of climate change and how technology is driving it,” said Tega Brain, an NYU professor and project lead. “The project has catalyzed conversations about AI and automation, as in-network user traffic is decided by solar energy. We are using intelligence from natural and dynamic versus a data-driven machine learning model… Why not think of planetary limits as intelligence? After all, they will shape the future of life on Earth whether we like it or not.”
Renewable Energy Demand Surge Among Tech Giants
As the world steps into a world with more complex computation systems and increasing internet service demands from all dimensions, the technology companies have a greater energy demand. For example, the blockchain, cryptocurrency, and NFTs all require huge computational power. One single transaction of Ethereum’s carbon impact is equivalent to traditional 300,000 credit card transactions. Under the broad circumstance of increasing energy demand, renewable energy demand also surges. Among all the tech giants, Meta is not the only one that has an increasing demand for renewable energy. In February, Amazon has ordered 450-kWp solar power systems in France; Amazon also invested in three renewable companies for its plan of carbon reduction; Apple also requires its suppliers to use renewable energy that would increase more than 9 GW of capacity globally.
