Commercial, Solar, Sourcing Renewables  -  January 24, 2019

Facebook secures solar with back-to-back VPPA

Facebook has secured approximately 80 megawatts of solar power for its data centers through a VPPA signed by Digital Realty, which signed the deal with SunEnergy1, which has developed and will own and operate the solar project, to be located within Virginia Electric and Power Company territory in North Carolina.  Under the terms of the agreement, all renewable energy certificates and environmental claims will be delivered to Facebook.

A statement from Digital Realty noted that this agreement marks the first back-to-back utility-scale renewable energy transaction between a data center provider landlord utilizing a virtual power purchase agreement to underpin the renewable energy supply dedicated to a customer.  Digital Realty worked in partnership with Facebook to structure the transaction to align with Facebook's quality standards for new renewable energy projects within the same power grid as the data center load.

"Facebook is committed to supporting all of its operations with 100% renewable energy and to improving overall access to renewable markets," said Bobby Hollis, director of global energy and site selection at Facebook.  "We are thrilled Digital Realty has entered into this agreement and hope this will serve as a model for other colocation customers seeking to support their operations with high-quality, renewable energy projects."  

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