Meta Moves to Mega Solar Milestone

Meta has signed three new agreements this week to purchase nearly one gigawatt of solar power as part of its effort to run its rapidly expanding artificial intelligence (AI) data centers on renewable energy, according to TechCrunch.

With these new deals, Meta’s total solar energy purchase for 2025 now exceeds three gigawatts. Solar power has become a preferred source for technology companies due to its relatively low cost and quick construction timeline.

On Thursday, Meta announced the purchase of environmental certificates for 385 megawatts of electricity from two projects in the U.S. state of Louisiana, expected to be completed within two years. Earlier on Monday, the company signed a major agreement to buy 600 megawatts of solar power from a large-scale project near Lubbock, Texas, slated to begin commercial production in 2027.

Although the Texas project will not directly power Meta’s data centers, it will feed electricity into the local grid, helping to balance the energy consumption of those facilities.

In Louisiana, Meta is primarily buying Environmental Attribute Certificates (EACs), which will be counted as offsets against the company’s carbon-based energy use. However, experts warn that such certificates can obscure the actual carbon emissions of tech companies, especially as AI-driven electricity demand surges.

Experts advise that if Meta and other technology firms genuinely wish to balance their AI-related energy consumption, they should invest directly in new renewable energy projects that would result in a real increase in solar and wind power generation.