First Solar, Rocky Mountain Power to deliver clean energy for Facebook Data Center
First Solar, Inc. has announced that its Cove Mountain 2 solar power plant will support Facebook’s Eagle Mountain Data Center in Utah, through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Rocky Mountain Power, a division of PacifiCorp and part of Berkshire Hathaway Energy.
The 122 megawatts (MW)AC facility will be built near the town of Enterprise in Iron County, Utah, and is scheduled to begin operations in 2020. It will be constructed near the 58 MWAC Cove Mountain power plant, which was announced in 2018 and will also supply renewable energy for Facebook’s operations. Cove Mountain 2 will supply clean solar energy to Facebook under the Schedule 34 Renewable Energy Tariff, which enables customers to work with Rocky Mountain Power to meet their renewable energy goals by facilitating the construction and contracting of new renewable energy projects.
The project will be powered by Series 6 modules, made by First Solar in the USA. The firm expects to begin construction in late 2019 and estimates that Cove Mountain Solar and Cove Mountain 2 Solar will generate about 450 construction jobs on average, and up to 1100 jobs at the peak of activity.
Once operational, Cove Mountain 2 is expected to generate electricity equivalent to the energy needs of 36,000 average Utah homes, while displacing 235,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually (equivalent to removing 46,000 cars from the road). It will also save 800 million liters of water annually, based on Utah averages.
