RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Meta has funded multiple natural gas power plants over the past 12 months
The corporate renewable energy initiative RE100 includes Apple, Google, and Microsoft among its 444 members
Meta has previously committed to running all operations on renewables by 2020
Meta has confirmed it is withdrawing from the RE100 scheme, following the news that it has funded several gas-fired power stations over the past year.
With the company leaning heavily into AI and the necessary data centers that come with such a commitment, it has opted to exit the collective of corporations planning to transition to 100% renewable energy, overturning a public commitment made in 2020.
While RE100 has many other members, including Apple, Google, and Microsoft, Meta’s confirmation of a move away from the group indicates that it doesn’t see an immediate solution to the power challenges posed by data centers.
What does Climate Group membership mean?
The RE100 initiative is led by the Climate Group, a non-profit with former UK prime minister Tony Blair named as a co-founder. Membership of the project gives organizations access to policy support and technical advice to support plans for moving to a 100% renewable energy footprint.
When quizzed, a Climate Group spokesperson responded : “After several in-depth conversations between Meta and Climate Group, Meta has withdrawn from the RE100 initiative, as it is no longer able to meet the technical criteria due to investments made in new gas power.”
Meta isn’t alone in looking beyond the renewable options for supplying power to its data centers. Its former RE100 co-members Google and Microsoft have both recently invested in fossil fuel projects. However, those companies both appear to have hedged their bets more widely, with Microsoft aiming for hourly energy matching (where fossil use is matched by renewable energy) and Google employing a 100-hour battery in a collaboration with Form Energy.
Data centers need heavy industry levels of power
Moving away from commitments to renewables in order to provide data centers with the level of energy they need in the AI era is disappointing, but not entirely unexpected.
Modern data centers require power for processing, for cooling, and for backup, and this requires a level of power that traditionally has only been seen in heavy manufacturing industries. The infrastructure currently available for renewable sources of power does not widely account for supply issues, battery systems are underdeveloped, and nuclear takes years to commission.
Meta’s support for gas power includes partnering with Entergy Corp in building seven plants in Louisiana in order to deliver over 5GW for its Richland Parish data center.
Conversely, gas-powered electricity is faster to set up, is a known quantity, and is cleaner than coal. Until infrastructure catches up with the demands from data centers, more withdrawals and fudges on previous green energy commitments from big tech should not be ruled out.
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