In a bid to speed up the construction of new power plants required to supply energy for its data centers, Meta is looking at entering the business of trading electricity.
Both Meta and Microsoft are seeking federal approval to trade power (An existing holder of this approval is Apple), Bloomberg reports. Meta said this will enable it to enter into long-term agreements to purchase electricity from new plants while spreading the risk by being able to then resell some of that power back onto wholesale power markets.
Urvi Parekh, Meta’s head of global energy, told Bloomberg: “Power plant developers want to know that power consumers are willing to put skin in the game.”
“Without Meta stepping up and engaging more firmly on the need to put more power in the system, it’s not happening as fast as we would want it,” Parekh said.
To give you a sense of the Herculean energy demands driving big tech’s AI data centers, at least three new gas-power plants will apparently have to be built so that Meta’s Louisiana data center campus can operate, according to Bloomberg.
