Rocky Mountain Power to build 120 MW solar project in rural Utah for Facebook regional data center

Rocky Mountain Power announced this week the 120 MW Appaloosa solar project, which will be built in support of the Facebook data center in Eagle Mountain, Utah.

The Iron County-based solar project will be developed by rPlus Energies and is slated to begin operations by the end of 2023. Under Rocky Mountain Power’s Schedule 34 green energy tariff, large customers like Facebook can purchase renewable energy generated for them. The new facility will bring the total amount of in-state solar energy supporting Facebook to 814 MW.

“We look forward to helping Rocky Mountain Power and Facebook tap both the excellent solar capacity and talent available in Iron County,” Luigi Resta, rPlus Energies CEO, said. “Our team is proud of our history in Iron County, helping to diversify and modernize the county’s energy mix through utility-scale solar development. We look forward to continuing to work with the community through project construction, with a focus on energizing the economy through local hiring and local subcontractors.”

For Facebook, the effort will also push forward its plans for 100 percent renewable energy across its global operations.

“Utah has been a great home for our data center, and we are proud to help add new solar energy to the electrical grid,” Urvi Parekh, head of Renewable Energy at Facebook, said. “Our goal is to continue to support all of our operations with 100% renewable energy, and this partnership with rPlus Energies and Rocky Mountain Power helps us achieve that.”

As a subsidiary of PacifiCorp, Rocky Mountain Power is included in its parent company’s push to expand its low-cost renewable energy portfolio. PacifiCorp’s 2019 Integrated Resource Plan laid out plans to add nearly 3,250 MW of resources, including solar, wind, and batteries, along with the transmission to interconnect those resources to its multi-state grid.