Walton Electric Membership Corporation (EMC), a consumer-owned utility, and Silicon Ranch, an independent power producer, completed three new utility-scale solar facilities to support Meta’s (formerly the Facebook company) operations in Georgia.
More than 1,200 people, the majority of whom were hired from the local region and military veteran community, completed the facilities on schedule. The three projects total 287 MWAC of solar generation and are located in three different southern counties in the state.
“In 2018, Meta, Morgan Stanley, and Walton EMC came together to design a landmark energy supply agreement for Meta’s Newton Data Center, and over the past three years we have worked shoulder-to-shoulder with Silicon Ranch to honor the commitments we made,” said Ronnie Lee, CEO of Walton EMC. “The past two years especially have introduced unprecedented challenges, including a pandemic and severe disruptions to the global supply chain, and so on behalf of our Board of Directors and the entire team at Walton EMC, I want to express our sincere appreciation to Silicon Ranch for their steadfast dedication to deliver these world-class facilities right on schedule.”
Walton EMC and Silicon Ranch have now completed six projects totaling 435 MWAC to serve Meta’s operations in Georgia, and recently began construction on a seventh facility.
Silicon Ranch funded the construction and will own, operate and maintain the arrays. Silicon Ranch partnered with IEA to construct the 100-MWAC Lumpkin Solar Farm, located in Stewart County and McCarthy Building Cos. to build the 80-MWAC Lancaster Solar Farm in Colquitt County and the 107-MWAC Snipesville II Solar Farm in Jeff Davis County.
“Silicon Ranch is honored by the confidence and trust that Walton EMC and Meta continue to place in our company to execute on their behalf, and we thank all the men and women at IEA, McCarthy and Georgia Transmission Corporation who supported our efforts and helped us continue this important economic development work across the state of Georgia,” said Reagan Farr, Silicon Ranch co-founder and CEO.
The solar facilities are part of an ongoing collaboration between Walton EMC and Silicon Ranch to supply 100% renewable energy for Meta’s data center in Newton County, Georgia.
With the first six solar projects now in commercial operation, Silicon Ranch has begun construction of the partners’ seventh project together, the DeSoto I Solar Farm, a 125 MWAC facility located in Lee County. Walton EMC and Silicon Ranch broke ground on the facility in October, and plan to hire more than 400 craft workers to build the project before the end of 2022.
“We are thrilled that these new solar projects are now online and will help us continue to meet our goal of supporting our data center in Newton County with 100% energy,” said Urvi Parekh, head of Renewable Energy at Meta. “We thank Silicon Ranch and Walton EMC for their continued partnership, for their dedication to successful execution, and for sharing our commitment to have a positive impact on the communities where we locate.”
