Idaho Power renewable energy will power Meta - boisedev.com

Idaho Power renewable energy will power Meta

Facebook parent company Meta got the green light to power its Kuna data center with renewable resources using an agreement with Idaho Power.

In mid-May, the Idaho Public Utilities Commission approved an energy services agreement allowing Idaho Power to provide electricity to the planned data center set for Kuna’s far eastern edge. The data center will become Idaho Power’s largest customer once it comes online. It will qualify as a “large power service customer,” which means the data center will exceed 20,000 kilowatts of demand.

Adam Rush, a spokesperson for the PUC, told BoiseDev the exact amount of power used by the data center is confidential information and unreleasable to the public. Meta also plans to power the facility with 100% renewable energy sources, but Rush said the specifics of all renewable energy sources the center will use “were not determined.” So far, one solar farm is associated with the project.

Before approving the agreement, the PUC examined whether or not approving the power agreement for the data center would hike rates for existing customers.

The company has been mum about a timeline for completion so far and spokespeople working on behalf of the company did not respond to questions for this story. Work slowed at the end of 2022 due to a required redesign of the project to accommodate artificial intelligence, but the company told BoiseDev it remained committed to completing the project and Kuna.

Kuna’s deal to put the data center in an urban renewal district to launch an industrial park was in the crosshairs of lawmakers during the 2023 legislative session. As a result of the project, a bill was passed preventing data centers from being located in urban renewal districts despite the protests of the City of Kuna and the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry. It’s unknown exactly how this will impact the project and plans to develop the area with other industrial development.

How will Meta meet its renewable goal?

A power purchase agreement between Idaho Power and Meta will help get the data center to be 100% renewable powered, even if it’s hooked up to the utility company’s grid.

The agreement will be modeled on Idaho Power’s proposed Clean Energy Your Way program, which, if approved by the PUC, would allow large commercial customers to make agreements with Idaho Power to bring new renewable energy online. The plan is for Meta to bring online new solar farms and sell the electricity generated there to Idaho Power to offset their demand. Meta will then in turn get credit for the extra power it brings to the system from Idaho Power. Micron is working on a similar deal with the utility to power its new fab, according to the Idaho Capital Sun.

In May, Utah-based company rPlus Energies announced it would be constructing the 200,000 kilowatts Plesant Valley solar energy facility in Ada County to power the data center. The project, which will become one of Idaho’s largest solar farms, has been approved by Ada County and is set to break ground soon east of the Orchard access road in southern Ada County.

It’s unknown if this will be enough power to cover the impact of the data center’s power usage. In early 2022, Kuna’s Economic Development Director Morgan Treasure told BoiseDev the center would likely be powered by a combination of solar and wind power, but its exact sources were not determined yet at that time.

Water is another major component of any data center. Meta said when it announced the project its goal is to “add more water than we consume” to the Treasure Valley, but so far the company hasn’t provided any specifics on exactly how it would achieve this goal and what it plans for Southwest Idaho.