This week, Meta signed three deals to procure nearly 1 gigawatt of solar power to power its lofty AI ambitions.
The three agreements will bring Meta’s total solar power purchases this year to more than 3 gigawatts. Solar power is cheap and quick to build, making it the go-to power source for high-tech companies as they expand their data centers.
Meta yesterday announced two agreements to purchase a total of 385 megawatts of environmentally-attributed power in Louisiana. Both projects are scheduled to be completed two years from now.
These follow a larger deal announced Monday in which Meta will buy 600 megawatts from a large solar farm near Lubbock, Texas. The project is also scheduled to begin commercial operations in 2027.
The Texas power plant will not connect directly to Meta’s data center, but will supply power to the local grid, offsetting the facility’s usage.
However, the Louisiana deal includes the purchase of certificates that allow Meta to offset carbon-intensive power sources.
Such environmental attribute certificates (EACs), sometimes called renewable energy certificates, have been criticized by experts for obscuring the true carbon footprint of tech companies’ operations, which have swelled as AI uses more electricity.
tech crunch event
san francisco
|
October 13-15, 2026
EAC was introduced several years ago when the cost of renewable energy was high compared to fossil fuel generators. It made electricity available to everyone, but also gave companies the option to pay extra to offset their own emissions, helping offset the rising cost of renewable electricity. These helped encourage developers to build more replayable projects.
But since then, the cost of new solar and wind power has fallen dramatically, forcing renewables to overwhelm new fossil generation and, in some cases, existing coal and natural gas power plants. The EAC does not offer the same incentives as before, and experts have doubts about how much additional renewable electricity the EAC will stimulate.
If companies really want to offset new energy use from AI, experts say they should encourage developers to build new renewable energy.
