Facebook Signs PPA for 170 MW of Wind Energy in Illinois

(Photo: Facebook’s Dekalb Data Center in Illinois. Credit: Facebook)

Facebook signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for approximately 170 megawatts from the Lincoln Land Wind project currently under construction in Morgan County, Illinois.

The deal with Apex Clean Energy is expected to help the social media company fulfill its commitments to reducing their greenhouse gas footprint by 75% and reaching 100% renewable energy in 2020. Last year, Facebook reported that operations achieved 86% renewable energy and a 59% reduction in GHG emissions.

“At Facebook, we are committed to not only supporting our operations with 100% renewable energy, but to helping accelerate the transition to renewable energy,” said Urvi Parekh, head of renewable Energy at Facebook. “With our recent announcement of our new data center in DeKalb, we are excited to bring renewable energy to Illinois.”

CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously said that each new data center the company builds would be supported entirely by renewable energy. At the end of June, Facebook announced that the newest data center in their network is coming to Dekalb, Illinois. The company promised that it would be “among the most advanced, energy- and water-efficient data center facilities in the world.”

The PPA signed this week marks Facebook’s third with Apex within the past year. In 2019, they inked a 61.6-MW solar agreement and a 200-MW wind agreement. Earlier this year, Facebook ranked number one the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance’s list of 2019’s Top 10 Large Energy Buyers.

The 300-MW Lincoln Land Wind project is expected to begin operations next year, and generate approximately $65 million in local tax revenue, according to Apex.