Rocky Mountain Power announces solar facility in Utah for Facebook

Eagle Mountain Data Center in Utah. Photo: Facebook

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah. — Rocky Mountain Power announced the addition of a new solar energy project to be built in Iron County on behalf of Facebook for its data center in Eagle Mountain, Utah.

The Appaloosa solar project will be developed under Rocky Mountain Power’s Schedule 34 green energy tariff, which allows large customers to purchase renewable energy generated on their behalf.

This means that solar energy will be generated in southwestern Utah, distributed to northern Utah, and powering Facebook’s cloud computing data center, enabling WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, and more to be distributed to devices.

The project represents 120 megawatts of additional solar capacity in Utah and brings the total amount of in-state solar energy signed to support Facebook’s regional data centers to 814 megawatts – equivalent to 53 percent of the current net summer capacity of solar generation in Utah per Energy Information Administration estimates. These projects support Facebook’s 100 percent renewable energy goal for its global operations. The Eagle Mountain Data Center is expected to be 100 percent solar-powered.

“Utah has been a great home for our data center, and we are proud to help add new solar energy to the electrical grid,” said Urvi Parekh, Head of Renewable Energy at Facebook. “Our goal is to continue to support all of our operations with 100% renewable energy and this partnership with rPlus Energies and Rocky Mountain Power helps us achieve that.”

The project will be developed in Iron County by rPlus Energies. It is scheduled to be in service at the end of 2023 and will provide ongoing tax benefits for Iron County.