Big tech companies are investing heavily in geothermal energy for data centers – and Meta is the latest major player to use this technology to meet AI’s growing energy needs.
Meta has announced that it will switch to geothermal energy as part of a new contract with Sage Geosystems.
The technology giant is working with Sage to develop a geothermal system to provide emission-free energy to its data centers. The first phase is scheduled to be operational by 2027. A specific location has not yet been decided.
The geothermal project will represent a small portion of Meta’s total renewable energy: the partnership with Sage will produce 150 MW, compared to the total contracted 12,000 MW of renewable energy.
Nevertheless, geothermal energy is still barely used in the USA – only 0.4 percent of total electricity generation, Reuters – It is hoped that the investment could contribute to a wider use of geothermal energy.
Meta will use Sage’s Geopressured Geothermal System (GGS) as part of the deal, the tech giant confirmed. Traditional geothermal energy requires a thermal resource such as underground reservoirs, but the Sage GGS harnesses the energy from hot, dry rocks – which Meta says are an “immensely abundant resource” in the US.
“At Meta, we understand the need for reliable, affordable and carbon-free energy and are committed to groundbreaking clean energy initiatives to support our work,” the company said in a statement.
The partnership was unveiled at a US government event on geothermal energy. US Assistant Secretary of Energy David Turk said growth in new industries such as AI has led to an “unprecedented increase in energy demand” – and this must be met by renewable sources.
“The Government sees this increased demand as a huge opportunity to bring more clean, reliable electricity into the grid and geothermal energy will be a game changer in our efforts to expand our clean electricity supply,” he added.
This makes Meta the latest major technology company to invest in geothermal energy, which is becoming increasingly popular. Earlier this year, Google already invested in two projects in Nevada to generate sustainable energy from geothermal energy.
While technology companies have long been investing in renewable energy sources, a key reason for the recent increased focus on renewables is the increasing demand for data center infrastructure driven by generative AI.
This issue has repeatedly become a focal point for major technology companies in recent months, and many of them are now struggling to achieve their ambitious ESG goals.
In July, for example, Google admitted that its carbon emissions had increased by 48% since 2019, while Microsoft said its emissions had increased by 30% since 2020. And although such companies are investing heavily in renewable energy sources, critics say this is little more than carbon offsetting.
Energy compromises
Although Meta stated that the geothermal investment is for its data centers, the Sage system will not directly generate energy to feed into Meta’s systems.
Instead, the energy is fed back into the larger power grid – as is often the case when large technology companies invest in renewable energy.
While some renewable energy sources, such as solar power, can be used directly by data centers, greater investments in other sources will help make the power grid greener to an extent that matches the consumption of the technical infrastructure.
For example, Amazon announced at the beginning of the year that the company had achieved 100% of its renewable energy share – well ahead of its 2030 target. This will be achieved by adjusting electricity consumption to investments in renewable energy sources.
Current analysis of Bloomberg Green found that while these companies claim to be emission-free, this is largely due to so-called unbundled renewable energy certificates.
These are essentially carbon offsets that cannot be compared with each other, especially when it comes to the time in which energy is produced and consumed. Defenders of the certificate system argue that it stimulates investment in technologies – such as new geothermal techniques – that would not otherwise be made. Critics speak of greenwashing.
If these credits were not taken into account, the report says, Amazon’s emissions would be 8.5 million tons higher than reported, while Meta’s emissions would rise from zero to 740,000 tons. Google does not use these credits and advocates for other systems to record emissions.
However, the report also noted that Meta has a higher share of renewable energy in its energy consumption compared to Google.
