(Credit: Pixabay)Meta has executed a power purchase agreement Great Pathfinder Wind, a 225 MW project located in Boone and Hamilton Counties in central Iowa, for the full capacity of energy produced at the facility. Great Pathfinder will be Meta’s second clean power purchase in Iowa.
Great Pathfinder Wind, owned and operated by Apex Clean Energy, will help support Meta’s operations in the region, including its data center campus approximately 40 miles away in Altoona, Iowa, which recently announced an expansion in December 2021. Meta has been part of the Iowa community since breaking ground on its data center in 2013. Once completed, the data center will represent an investment of more than $2.5 billion and support over 400 jobs. The wind project will help Meta continue supporting its global operations with 100% renewable energy.
In addition to the economic benefits created by Meta’s data center, Great Pathfinder Wind will create significant local benefits in Boone and Hamilton Counties, generating approximately $32 million in local tax revenue, $74 million in payments to landowners, 270 full-time local jobs during construction, and nine long-term local operations positions. Great Pathfinder Wind is expected to begin commercial operations in 2022.
In August 2020, Meta signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for approximately 170 megawatts from the Lincoln Land Wind project currently under construction in Morgan County, Illinois. In 2020, the company reached its goal of using 100% renewable energy to power its operations.
