"In order to accelerate the construction of new power plants needed to provide energy for its data centers, Meta is looking to get into the business of trading electricity. Bloomberg reports that both Meta and Microsoft are asking for federal approval to trade power (Apple has already received this approval). According to Meta, this will allow it to make long-term commitments to buy electricity from new plants,"
"while mitigating the risk by having the ability to resell some of that power on wholesale power markets. Meta's head of global Urvi Parekh told Bloomberg that power plant developers "want to know that the consumers of power are willing to put skin in the game." "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," Parekh said."
Meta and Microsoft are seeking federal approval to trade electricity, with Apple already holding such approval. Trading authority would enable long-term power purchase commitments for newly built plants while allowing resale on wholesale markets to mitigate financial risk. Power plant developers seek assurance that major consumers will provide financial commitments to underwrite construction. Meta plans to use trading ability to accelerate the buildout of generation capacity needed to serve large data center power demands. The scale of planned AI data centers requires significant new generation; at least three new gas-fired plants will be required to supply power for a Meta campus in Louisiana.
Read at TechCrunch
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