- Facebook owner Meta Platforms has signed a deal to buy geothermal power from Sage Geosystems to supply its US data centres.
- Sage is a four-year-old startup developing next-generation technology that can be deployed in more locations than traditional geothermal.
Facebook owner Meta Platforms has signed a deal to buy geothermal power from Sage Geosystems to supply its US data centres. Meta Platforms is racing to build the infrastructure to support its massive investments in energy-hungry artificial intelligence.
Meta said the first phase of the 150-megawatt project should be operational by 2027 and “significantly” expand the use of geothermal power in the United States. While the deal’s financial terms were not disclosed, the location has yet to be determined, but the companies said it will be east of the Rocky Mountains.
Geothermal power is a renewable energy source that uses the Earth’s internal heat to produce electricity and heat water. One hundred and fifty megawatts is roughly enough electricity to power 38,000 homes.
Meta’s announcement, made as part of a US Department of Energy event on geothermal development, comes as President Joe Biden’s administration is asking big technology companies to invest in new clean power generation to cover their surging electricity demand.
This surge has been driven by the adoption of technologies like generative AI, which require large amounts of electricity to power data centers. This development could complicate Biden’s target of decarbonizing the power sector by 2035 to fight climate change.
The Meta project would be Sage’s largest to date. The company said it first validated the technology in the field just two years ago. Also, a Meta spokesperson noted that the company expected Sage Geosystems’ energy to feed the power grid rather than directly supply any specific data centre.
Based in Houston, Sage is a four-year-old startup developing next-generation technology that can be deployed in more locations than traditional geothermal. Traditional geothermal energy requires naturally occurring underground hot water reservoirs, accounting for 0.4 per cent of US power generation.
The company is backed by oil and gas firms Chesapeake Energy and Nabors Industries and venture capital firms Virya and Helium-3 Ventures.
Meanwhile, Meta has been scrambling to overhaul and build infrastructure for the last several years to accommodate its push into generative AI, refashioning its data centres to support the types of chips best suited to AI workloads.