Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp owner Meta announced a new agreement with clean energy company XGS Energy for the development of 150 MW of geothermal energy in New Mexico to support Meta’s data center operations in the state.
California-based XGS Energy provides heat-harvesting technology to enable access to affordable and carbon-free geothermal energy. The company’s solution drills a single directional well to access rock with temperatures of 250 °C or higher, and pulls heat into the well through a network of thermally conductive material. The heat can be used directly, or converted to electricity. Water is reused in a coaxial closed-loop system, which makes the system more environmentally beneficial and deployable even where water is scarce. Earlier this year, the company raised $13 million in a financing round, with proceeds aimed at expanding its geothermal technology and financing new projects.
According to XGS, the new geothermal energy development will enable carbon-free power production with zero operating water use, which will be deployed to the PNM grid. By decoupling geothermal energy production from constraints such as water availability, the company added that its technology enables “new frontiers” for geothermal energy development, noting that its new project is positioned to increase the total geothermal electricity produced in New Mexico by a factor of ten.
Josh Prueher, Chief Executive Officer at XGS Energy, said:
“We’re pleased to support Meta’s ambitious AI objectives and accelerate access to new round-the-clock power supplies. More broadly, the state of New Mexico is a growing hub for data center development. We are eager to feed clean, water-independent geothermal power into the New Mexico market at a scale uniquely possible with XGS technology.”
Meta has set a target to reach net-zero emissions across its value chain by 2030. The company achieved its goal to meet 100% of its operational energy needs with renewable sources in 2020, and recently said that it anticipates adding 9.8 GW of renewable energy to local grids in the U.S. by the end of 2025.
The new agreement will start with an initial smaller phase, followed by a second larger phase, which are both projected to be operational by 2030.
Urvi Parekh, Global Head of Energy at Meta, said:
“Advances in AI require continued energy to support infrastructure development. With next-generation geothermal technologies like XGS ready for scale, geothermal can be a major player in supporting the advancement of technologies like AI as well as domestic data center development. We’re excited to partner with XGS to unlock a new category of energy supply for our operations in New Mexico.”
