Facebook going solar to power Prineville Data Center

Facebook is going solar at their big and still-growing Prineville Data Center.

Gov. Kate Brown was in Crook County Wednesday morning to celebrate Crook County’s newest collaboration.

Pacific Power and Facebook have partnered to build a total of six new solar farms, which is something Brown hopes will keep Oregon on the path of green energy.

“Meeting the challenge of climate change and growing our economy are not mutually exclusive goals, rather they are both moral and economic imperatives,” Brown said.

Two of the solar developments will be built in the Prineville area, the other four will be located in Utah said Pacific Power Senior Vice President Scott Bolton.

He said, “437 megawatts of energy will flow into Pacific Corps grid and serve our customers across the West.”

That power should be enough to provide energy for the entire Prineville Facebook data campus, according to Facebook Energy Strategy Manager Peter Freed.

“We’ve been working on this for quite a few years now. It’s been one of the top priorities for the Prineville site,” Freed said. “So we’re excited to be here today, finally ready to announce something for 100 percent renewable energy for the facility.”

Local officials hope the project will also keep Prineville on a path to a greener future and an improved economy, said Crook County Judge Seth Crawford.

“As we continue the data centers, it’s going to bring more jobs to our community. And that’s what we need. We need to continually add family wage jobs to our community,” Crawford said.

He said the growth rate for clean energy jobs is double that of any other job sector, and more than 12,000 Oregonians work in the renewable energy industry.

Prineville Mayor Betty Jean Roppe said encouraging growth in the renewable energies industry has always been one of her focuses as mayor.

“This is my eighth year as mayor, and when I came into this position, one of my top goals was that we had living-wage jobs and that we had all the water and electricity we needed to do that,” Roppe said.

“And we’re working on that day by day, and it’s improving constantly.,” she added. “But we are all expecting to do the same thing into the future, so we’re not going to stop being aware of how important our resources are to us.”

Officials said the solar-power project should be online by the end of 2020.

Here’s the news release regarding Wednesday’s announcement:

Officials from Pacific Power, Facebook, Crook County and the City of Prineville joined Oregon Governor Kate Brown Wednesday to announce that Facebook’s Prineville Data Center will be supported by 100 percent renewable energy from new solar developments.

“This collaboration helps fuel Prineville’s growing data center industry, supports the city’s economic growth, and brings new cost-effective resources onto Pacific Power’s system while fulfilling Facebook’s long-term sustainability goals,” the joint announcement stated, which continues below:

The Pacific Power and Facebook partnership will result in 437 megawatts of new solar developments, including two projects totaling 100 megawatts in the Prineville area.

Facebook announced it is financing six large solar projects to generate enough clean power to offset power use for all five of its current or upcoming Prineville data centers. Two are just south of downtown Prineville and four on Pacific Power’s Utah electrical grid.

Facebook has built three Prineville data centers and is building two more. The company previously announced it had spent more than $1 billion since its arrival in Prineville.

The companies said the joint effort puts Oregon and the City of Prineville at the center of a solution that both supports development of new renewable resources and provides economic development benefits for the state and local community.

“This partnership bolsters Prineville’s 21st century model for a small town,” Governor Brown said. “With projects like these, we continue to demonstrate that Oregon is ready for the clean energy economy of the future.”

For Facebook, leveraging renewable resources to power its data centers and finding strong partners to help develop these solutions, have been a priority.

“Our work with Pacific Power to develop new solar resources represents a significant milestone for our hyper-efficient Prineville Data Center. We are committed to supporting 100% renewable energy, and we are thrilled to have found a solution for our first data center,” said Peter Freed, Facebook’s energy strategy manager. “We are proud to be a part of the Prineville community, and look forward to a continued partnership with the city and the state of Oregon.”

Since 2011, when Facebook opened the doors to its first data center in Prineville, the unemployment rate has decreased from 17 percent to 6.5 percent today. Along with job growth, stronger infrastructure has come to the area, including new roads, parks and an elementary school. Education benefits have come from grants, including support from Facebook, and upgrades to school curriculums, including more STEM education opportunities.

“We are expanding from our timber roots to a future with greater business diversity and a workforce with broader skills,” said Prineville Mayor Betty Jean Roppe. “It is through contributions and support from organizations like Facebook and Pacific Power that Prineville is growing new jobs and strengthening our schools with programs that meet the skills needs of tomorrow. This inspires new paths and opportunities for future generations, right here in town.”

As a company serving Oregon’s rural communities, Pacific Power said it seeks out opportunities to power innovation and ideas that bring strength to the cities and customers it serves and provide support for the future.

“At Pacific Power, we believe in the power of partnership. As a 100-year company with a long history of serving smaller communities across Oregon, we believe progress is best achieved when business and community come together,” said Stefan Bird, president and CEO of Pacific Power. “We view this partnership as a way for Facebook to meet its sustainability goals and for Prineville and its neighboring Central Oregon communities to grow and thrive, while delivering cost-effective resources to all of our customers.”