Digital Event Horizon
Meta's latest datacenter project has sparked controversy after the company opted for fossil fuels instead of nuclear power. The 4 million square foot facility will be powered by three combined-cycle combustion turbine (CCCT) plants that are expected to produce significant greenhouse gas emissions. Meta claims it is working with Entergy to identify potential clean and renewable energy projects, but some experts have raised concerns about the lack of transparency and the potential environmental impact of this decision.
Meta will power its new 4 million square foot datacenter with fossil fuels instead of nuclear energy. The facility, valued at $10 billion, will produce significant greenhouse gas emissions from three combined-cycle combustion turbine (CCCT) plants. Experts and environmental groups have raised concerns about the decision, citing unproven technology to mitigate emissions and lack of transparency. Meta claims it is working with Entergy to identify potential clean and renewable energy projects, but details are scarce.
Meta, the social media giant and owner of Facebook, has made a surprising decision regarding its latest datacenter project. Instead of powering its new facility with nuclear energy, as it had previously advocated for, Meta will instead rely on fossil fuels to drive its AI computing workload. The 4 million square foot, $10 billion facility, located in Richland Parish, Louisiana, is set to be one of the largest private capital investments in the history of the bayou state.
The decision comes after Meta announced a request for proposals (RFP) yesterday, in which it shared its plans to deploy nuclear power at its next generation of AI datacenters. However, instead of partnering with Entergy, the power generation company that won the RFP bid, to construct a nuclear-powered datacenter, Meta decided to partner with Entergy to drive its AI computing workload by burning more fossil fuels.
The facility will be powered by three combined-cycle combustion turbine (CCCT) plants, which are designed to burn natural gas and produce a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions. According to Southern Renewable Energy Association (SREA), the power generated at the Richland Parish datacenter will be more than three times the power of a plant Entergy is building for a new Amazon datacenter in Mississippi, and more than 20 times the size of Entergy's Bayou Power Station.
The CCCT plants being constructed for the project are designed to be able to co-fire up to 30 percent hydrogen before requiring upgrades. However, experts have raised concerns about the large amount of greenhouse gas emissions these three new gas plants will produce and the unproven nature of the technology Entergy is proposing to install 'in the future' to mitigate those emissions.
"SREA is concerned about the large amount of greenhouse gas emissions these three new gas plants will produce, and the unproven nature of the technology Entergy is proposing to install 'in the future' to mitigate the greenhouse gas emissions that will be produced by these gas power plants," said Whit Cox, regulatory director at SREA.
Andy Kowalczyk, transmission director at SREA, added that hydrogen power isn't necessarily emissions-free. "Sure, burning it doesn't emit greenhouse gases, but there's the matter of its creation that isn't addressed in Entergy's or Meta's statements on the project."
Paul Arbaje, an energy analyst at Union of Concerned Scientists, also expressed concerns about the co-firing percentage at the Richland Parish datacenter. "The proposed turbines are designed to be able to co-fire up to 30 percent hydrogen before requiring upgrades, which even with low-carbon hydrogen would only yield about an 11 percent reduction in combustion-related carbon dioxide emissions," Arbaje said.
Meta and Entergy's statements about its evaluation of deploying greener power at the site did not pass the sniff test for SREA. "They only evaluated solar and (very expensive) 18 hour batteries as a 'hypothetical' alternative, rather than considering any wind plus storage option to serve the customer's load at night," Cox said.
Cox also pointed out that the discussion of storage-only battery solutions is likely just an attempt at deflection. "Given no utility is currently modeling 18 hour batteries in [integrated resource plans] for new energy projects," he added.
It's worth noting that the CCCT plants have yet to be approved by the Louisiana Public Service Commission (LPSC). Entergy said the facilities are expected to come online between 2028 and 2029 - just before when Meta said it wanted to start deploying all those new nuclear reactors.
In a statement, Meta said it is "working with Entergy now to identify potential clean and renewable energy projects." However, the company did not provide any further details about its plans for the Richland Parish datacenter or how it will meet its goal of using 100 percent clean and renewable energy in its global operations by 2030.
The decision to rely on fossil fuels instead of nuclear power at its latest datacenter project has sparked concerns among environmental groups and experts. "Building with sustainability in mind is important to us," Meta said in its statement about the project. However, some are questioning whether this commitment will be genuine if it means relying on greener alternatives that are not yet proven.
The great fossil fuel faux pas comes as Meta prepares to deploy nuclear power at its next generation of AI datacenters. The company had previously shared its plans to use nuclear energy to drive its AI computing workload, but instead opted for fossil fuels in this latest project. This decision raises questions about whether Meta is truly committed to reducing its environmental impact or if it's just trying to cut costs and meet a deadline.
In summary, Meta has made a surprising decision regarding its latest datacenter project by opting to rely on fossil fuels instead of nuclear power. The 4 million square foot facility will be powered by three combined-cycle combustion turbine (CCCT) plants that are expected to produce significant greenhouse gas emissions. While Meta claims it is working with Entergy to identify potential clean and renewable energy projects, some experts have raised concerns about the lack of transparency and the potential environmental impact of this decision.
Related Information:
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/12/05/meta_largestever_datacenter/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/day-after-nuclear-power-vow-meta-announces-largest-ever-datacenter-powered-by-fossil-fuels/ar-AA1vlQcI
https://forums.theregister.com/forum/all/2024/12/05/meta_largestever_datacenter/
Published: Thu Dec 5 22:14:50 2024 by llama3.2 3B Q4_K_M
