Facebook owner Meta strikes major 20-year green power purchase deal in Arizona
Orsted's future 300MW US solar and battery array will generate power for local utility and resale to Meta
Facebook owner Meta will purchase most electric power from the 300MW Eleven Mile Solar Centre that Orsted has under construction in Arizona, according to both companies.
Local utility Salt River Project will buy the electricity under a 20-year offtake agreement and sell it through a customer agreement to Meta to help power the Mesa data centre in south-central Arizona, , according to Charlotte Bellotte, advisor, Orsted plroject communications.
Energy not needed by Meta will be available to SRP’s customer base which encompasses most of Greater Phoenix. Eleven Mile will have four-hour, 300MW battery storage capacity.
Orsted said the project will feature one of the largest US battery energy storage systems built in a single phase. It is scheduled to enter commercial operation in 2024.
“Access to renewable energy and a strong, reliable grid were an important part of our decision to build in Mesa," said Urvi Parekh, head of renewable energy at Meta.
Meta is among the largest corporate buyers of renewable energy in the US along with Amazon and other technology giants.
Eleven Mile is Orsted’s first renewable energy project in Arizona. The Danish company is better known in the US as an offshore wind developer along the mid-Atlantic and New England, but has at least 1.4GW of solar, storage, and wind onshore in operation.
One year later, Orsted bought the project development unit of Coronel Energy, a California-based developer and power producer backed by Japanese giant Panasonic, giving it a multi-gigawatt solar and storage pipeline in 20 states.
That pipeline has increased significantly in value with projects potentially eligible for lucrative long-term federal tax credits available in the US climate law signed by President Joe Biden in August 2022.
That pipeline has increased significantly in value with projects potentially eligible for lucrative long-term federal tax credits available in the US climate law signed by President Joe Biden in August 2022.
A spokeswoman said Orsted now has 3.2GW of operating onshore wind projects, 647MW of solar, and a 40MW operational battery storage facility. It has an additional 1.5GW of solar and a 300 MW storage project under construction.