Facebook Data Center to Go All Solar

By Anca Gagiuc

Officials from Pacific Power, Facebook, Crook County and the City of Prineville, and Governor Kate Brown

Pacific Power and Invenergy have partnered with Facebook for the construction of 437 megawatts of solar projects in an effort to supply Facebook’s Prineville data center with 100 percent renewable energy. Two facilities, totaling 100 megawatts, will be located in the Prineville, Ore., area and will be developed by Invenergy.

Facebook opened its first data center in Prineville in 2011. The social media giant’s presence in the region pushed down the unemployment rate from 17 percent to 6.5 percent today and improved the infrastructure with new roads, parks and an elementary school. In addition, education got a boost through grants, including support from Facebook, as well as upgrades to school curricula, including more STEM education opportunities.

The two solar parks will be located in Crook County and will include the 55-megawatt Prineville Solar and the 45-megawatt Millican Solar. Both are slated to come online in late 2020 and are expected to create approximately 100 jobs at each site during construction.

“Invenergy’s two new solar projects were a great fit to power our Prineville Data Center and also help us further contribute to the city’s prosperity,” said Peter Freed, Facebook energy strategy manager, in a prepared statement. “Prineville was our first data center and we are thrilled to be adding it to our list of hyper-efficient facilities supported by 100 percent renewable energy.”

Images courtesy of Pacific Power