Meta Platforms has sealed an agreement to buy as much as 150 MW of geothermal energy from Sage Geosystems for application in its U.S. data centers as part of the company’s overarching strategy to use green energy sources for its activities. The arrangement, disclosed on Monday, is one of many significant milestones in Meta’s endeavor to support increasing infrastructure needs fueled by energy-intensive technologies such as AI.
The initial phase of the geothermal initiative is slated to go live by 2027. The adoption of geothermal power will “drastically grow” after this agreement is reached according to Meta. This was announced during a U.S. Department of Energy event focused on geothermal development, highlighting the Biden administration’s call on tech firms to switch to clean energy sources to meet their growing power requirements.
Meta secures geothermal power to meet surging AI energy needs
Meta is pushing for secure geothermal power as it tries to expand the renewable energy sources that it uses. This means that there has been a rise in the adoption of AI technologies, especially generative AI, thus increasing the amount of energy needed by Meta’s data centers.
One of the basic requirements for the support of the company’s AI infrastructure includes these data centers which require huge amounts of power. They are therefore exploring new ways through which they can find alternative sources of energy.
Meta spokesperson confirmed that Sage Geosystems would generate power on behalf of the off-taker grid rather specifically for particular servers in those data centers. Such an approach is part of Meta’s broader goal to help decarbonize the entire sector responsible for providing electricity.
Biden administration pushes tech giants toward green energy investments
As the demand for electricity soars, the Biden administration has been calling on big tech firms to invest in new environmentally friendly energy sources. This is a rising demand that is mainly driven by AI and other power-consuming technicalities that might come as an obstacle to the 2035 target of decarbonizing the power sector.
In response, Meta has partnered with Sage Geosystems to develop a geothermal plant indicating its commitment to exploring alternative renewable energy resources capable of powering its operations. Besides, the terms of this deal are unknown but it demonstrates how important renewable energy will be in future technology trends.
