Within the span of two weeks, the Silicon Valley social media giant Facebook, Inc inked two new renewable energy deals for their Chicago, Illinois and Jackson, Tennessee offices. The Chicago offices are going to be powered by Apex Clean Energy through their Lincoln Land Wind Project, while the Madison County offices in Jackson, TN will be powered, run, and owned by Silicon ranch Corporation with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).
Facebook has been transforming the operations of their 85 offices around the globe over the past several years to solar or generally renewable energy in order to eventually become completely powered by renewable options. According to Urvi Parekh, their Head of Renewable Energy, Facebook’s goals include supporting their “global operations with 100% renewable energy” and they plan on achieving this, or at least the signing of contracts for all of their operations around the world, to renewable energy by the end of the current year of 2020.
Lincoln Land Wind Project, Chicago, IL
The first of their two renewable energy contracts signed this month is with Apex Clean Energy. The renewable energy company based in Chicago is starting work on their Lincoln Land Wind Project for 300 MegaWatts (MW) of power production. Facebook has already acquired 170 MW while the rest of the 130 MW are still up for grabs by any large corporation. This will be the largest corporate customer for Apex by megawatt capacity. It is also their third project with the social media giant over this past year alone. The Lincoln project is estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for Facebook by a good 75%. It is expected to be live and operational by as early as the next year of 2021.
The CEO and President of Apex Clean Energy, Mark Goodwin says about this project, “The clean energy industry has long recognized Facebook as a leader… In its early commitment to utilizing 100% renewable energy, and now its continuing work to fulfill that pledge, Facebook has led from the front of the pack. Apex has a strong track record in enabling corporate clean energy procurement, and we’re excited that the Lincoln Land Wind PPA results in Facebook becoming our largest partner to date.”
Meanwhile, Parekh from Facebook says, “We are thrilled to partner with Apex once again to bring an additional 170 MW of new renewable energy to the grid. At Facebook, we are committed to not only supporting our operations with 100% renewable energy, but to helping accelerate the transition to renewable energy. With our recent announcement of our new data center in DeKalb, we are excited to bring renewable energy to Illinois.”
Tennessee Valley Authority Project, Madison County, Jackson, TN
The second and latest of the two renewable energy contracts signed by Facebook this month is with the Silicon Ranch Corporation and the Tennessee Valley Authority through the Jackson Energy Authority distribution system for their offices in Madison County, Jackson in the state of Tennessee. This project is estimated to generate 70 MW of power for the Facebook offices after the project is approved via an environmental review. This is a part of the TVA’s Green Invest program that works to help companies meet their long-term sustainability goals through renewable energy projects. The new Facebook/TVA/Silicon Ranch collaborative project will be owned, funded, and operated by Silicon Ranch for Facebook. It is expected to generate over 350 construction jobs.
This is not the first or only TVA/Facebook collaboration; they worked together in 2018 as well when the Green Invest program was starting off. The program has generated $1.6 Billion for TVA’s service territory’s GDP. Facebook’s TVA/Silicon Ranch project is expected to go live by the autumn of 2022 in two years’ time span.
The CEO and Co-Founder of Silicon Ranch, Reagan Farr stated in regards to the Madison County project, “The Tennessee Valley is our home, and Silicon Ranch is honored to be part of this compelling economic development story with TVA, Facebook, JEA, and the Jackson Chamber that demonstrates what’s possible when we work together with a shared vision for the entire region.” He continued by saying, “We’ve been proud to partner with Facebook to supply renewable energy to its state-of-the-art data center in Georgia, and today we’re thrilled to support Facebook’s operations right here in the Valley. Moreover, we are grateful to expand our meaningful relationship with TVA and look forward to collaborating on this innovative, customer-driven renewable energy solution.”
The Vice President of Origination and Renewables, Chris Hansen of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) said about the multi-company collaboration, “TVA is building the energy system of the future, and we are leading the charge by contracting 1,300 megawatts of utility scale solar in the past two years.” He added, “This public-private partnership demonstrates the strength of TVA’s public power model to deliver clean, renewable energy at a competitive price to stimulate investment and jobs that help communities grow across the seven states we serve.”
Furthermore, Urvi Parekh from Facebook showed his enthusiasm about the partnership saying, “We are thrilled to be partnering with TVA and Silicon Ranch to bring this new solar facility to the grid in support of our operations in the Tennessee Valley… The nearly 450 megawatts of new solar energy we are developing with TVA is an important part of our goal to support our global operations with 100% renewable energy.”
EBR Energy Pakistan regularly writes about the renewable energy industry and solar achievements around the world besides our own as well. You can stay tuned with us to learn about solar projects and inventions around the globe by following us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.