John Sowell
Thu, February 17, 2022
One thing that attracted Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook, to Idaho for its planned data center in Kuna is the state’s low-cost electricity.
Data centers consume large amounts of electricity, and Idaho Power’s electricity is cheaper than that found in many other regions of the United States, thanks largely to the utility’s reliance on hydropower.
Meta will be the first Idaho Power customer to take part in a program that will assign only “renewable energy from new resources” to the Meta data center.
Meta’s needs will be met by adding electrical generation from wind and solar energy, Adam Richins, chief operating officer for Idaho Power, said in an interview.
“Throughout the year, they’ll offset 100% of their use, whatever that might be, by the same amount of renewable energy production,” Richins said.
Meta’s need for electricity to handle data for Facebook, Instagram and its other services will not cause rates for other Idaho Power customers to rise, he said.
“They made sure that the costs that they caused are paid by them, not other customers,” Richins said.
Of course, there’s no spigot to open for channeling electricity created by solar and wind power to Meta’s power lines after the data center planned for Kuna is built. Idaho Power will track how much electricity the center uses, and then each megawatt hour of electricity will be offset by a megawatt hour of renewable energy, he said.
Both Richins and Meta declined to say how much electricity Meta plans to use at the site at Kuna Mora and Cole roads. Idaho Power has enough capacity to easily supply the data center, Richins said. Idaho Power has a 20-year plan that allows it to meet projected needs well into the future.
When a large user hooks into an electrical system, it’s normal for residential customers and other businesses to wonder whether the price they pay for electricity could be affected.
“Meta has been really good at making sure that that’s not the case,” Richins said. “All the new resources that we will utilize to source their facilities will be paid for directly by Meta, and they do this all over the United States. They don’t want to come into an area and cause rates to increase in that area.”
The Idaho Public Utilities Commission will review the rate schedule for the company to ensure that other customers are not affected, Richins said.
An architect’s rendering of the data center Meta plans on what is now farmland at the northeast corner of Cole and Kuna-Mora roads in Kuna.
Solar power is on the rise in Idaho. RPlus Energies, an energy company in Salt Lake City, has proposed to build a giant solar farm southeast of Boise.
The Pleasant Valley Solar Project would be built at the South Orchard Access Road and East Monroe Avenue a few miles south of the Boise Stage Stop on Interstate 84, about halfway between Boise and Mountain Home. It would transmit solar energy to Idaho Power.
The solar farm would occupy 3,000 acres, more than 4.5 square miles. Construction would take one to two years.
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