Meta wants to trade electricity to power its data centers
Meta (the company behind Facebook and Instagram) is asking for federal approval to trade electricity, hoping to keep up with the huge energy needs of its growing data centers.
With AI tech booming, Meta—and other big names like Microsoft and Apple—are looking for creative ways to secure enough power.
How Meta plans to pull it off
Meta's strategy is to lock in long-term deals with new power plants, then sell any extra electricity back into the market. This helps them handle price swings.
As Meta's global energy head Urvi Parekh put it, current efforts just aren't enough: "Without Meta taking a more active voice in the need to expand the amount of power that's on the system, it's not happening as quickly as we would like."
For example, their Louisiana campus alone will need at least three new gas plants—showing just how much energy these tech giants are using.