Facebook parent company Meta has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for 156 MW of the 240-MW Cattlemen Solar Park in Milam County, Texas.
EDP Renewables North America developed and will construct, own and operate Cattlemen Solar Park, which will be operational in 2023.
Cattlemen is the second PPA EDP Renewables and Meta have arranged, the first being a 139-MW PPA for the 200-MW Headwaters II Wind Farm in Indiana. The companies are also partnering on EDPR’s 200-MW Randolph Solar Park, where the entire capacity of the project will be dedicated to supporting Meta’s data center in Mesa, Arizona.
In total, EDPR and Meta are bringing 495 MW of renewable energy to the grid, supporting Meta’s goal to power its global operations with 100% renewable energy.
“As our global infrastructure continues to grow, partnerships like the one with EDP Renewables are increasingly important for us to meet our ambitious sustainability goals,” said Urvi Parekh, head of renewable energy at Meta. “Investing in local communities is important to us, and we are proud that this project is bringing new solar energy to the grid, providing construction jobs, and contributing to local water savings.”
Cattlemen will provide economic benefits by way of payments to local landowners, an estimated $55 million in taxes paid to support local schools and other essential community services and job opportunities during the project’s construction. The project will annually power the equivalent of more than 37,000 average Texas homes.
“EDP Renewables is pleased, once again, to collaborate with Meta on another renewable energy project and to be a part of its sustainability goals,” said Sandhya Ganapathy, CEO of EDP Renewables North America. “We are committed to playing a leading role in the energy transition, and projects like Cattlemen Solar Park enable us to achieve that while providing numerous economic benefits and opportunities to the local communities”.”
News item from EDP Renewables North America
