Dive Brief:
- Social media giant Meta will partner with solar and community energy infrastructure company Silicon Ranch to bring a 100-megawatt solar farm to South Carolina to help power Meta’s data center in the state, Silicon Ranch announced Tuesday.
- Silicon Ranch is making a $100 million investment in Orangeburg County, South Carolina, and Meta will receive all of the renewable energy credits from the facility, according to the release. The project will require no community or utility investments, Silicon Ranch told ESG Dive Tuesday.
- The solar farm is expected to come online in 2027, the same year as Meta’s data center in Aiken, South Carolina. Meta said recently it successfully piloted the use of mass timber to construct an administration building on the future data center’s Aiken campus.
Dive Insight:
Meta — owner of social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — is one of the largest corporate buyers of renewable energy and has reported net-zero scope 1 and scope 2 emissions since 2020, primarily by matching its data center energy use with renewables over that span, according to its 2024 environmental report.
The deal is the 18th between Silicon Ranch and Meta, which collectively represent “well over 1,500 MW of renewable energy capacity” and $2.5 billion in investments from Silicon Ranch, according to the announcement. The partnerships include energy infrastructure projects in Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and the new South Carolina solar farm. Silicon Ranch, which is based in Nashville, Tennessee, told ESG Dive that not all of the projects have been publicly announced.
“This deal reflects the fact that an all-of-the-above energy strategy is necessary to power our growing economy,” Silicon Ranch said in an email. “Today, our country needs more energy than ever before, and we can do so in a way that supports American manufacturing, strengthens our infrastructure, and brings jobs and investment to rural communities.”
Central Electric Power Cooperative, a Columbia, South Carolina, energy generation and transmission cooperative, is also a partner in the deal and will purchase energy from the solar farm for its member portfolio, the release said. Central Electric represents 19 electric distribution cooperatives across the state, including Aiken Electric Cooperative, which will serve Meta’s data center.
For Meta, the deal follows a July announcement to purchase all of the energy generated by a 600 MW solar plant being built in Texas by Enbridge. Alberta-based Enbridge announced a $900 million investment to complete the project, which is also expected to come online in 2027.
Both deals follow the passage last month of a Republican budget law, which created new restrictions for wind and solar projects to qualify for previously enacted tax credits. The Department of Treasury recently issued new guidelines on what qualifies as “begins construction” for the new law’s purpose, saying construction for wind and solar “begins when physical work of a significant nature begins.”
