Full Title: Corporate Case Study: Facebook’s Green Energy Goals Are Speeding the Transition of New Mexico’s Electricity Sector
Author(s): Karl Cates, Seth Feaster, and Dennis Wamsted
Publisher(s): Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA)
Publication Date: May 14, 2020
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
The report—Corporate Renewables Case Study: Facebook’s Green Energy Goals Are Speeding the Transition Of New Mexico’s Electricity Sector—details how a Facebook data complex that broke ground in 2016, and that is now being expanded from 973,000 to 3 million square feet, has increased municipal revenues, created local jobs and driven Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) to speed the buildout of utility-scale solar and wind statewide.
“While the state of New Mexico gave Facebook ample taxpayer-supported incentives to build at Los Lunas, such incentives are not uncommon, and they don’t always work,” notes the report. “What sets the Los Lunas example apart are its clearly beneficial local economic impacts and its market-moving renewable energy requirements.”
The report suggests the data-center business is more pandemic-resistant than much of the economy, as businesses and households rely increasingly on the Internet.