Facebook’s parent company to rely on Louisiana solar farm

Meta, owner of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and other global social media platforms, will meet some of its growing electricity needs with sunlight from northeastern Louisiana.

RWE, the German renewable energy company, has signed long-term agreements with Meta to provide power for future solar farms in Ouachita Parish and Illinois, the company said. The solar project is part of a larger move toward renewable energy in Louisiana and off the coast for RWE.

Last August, RWE won a federal lease to develop 102,000 acres in the Gulf of Mexico south of Lake Charles for a wind farm. The Lafitte Solar project on U.S. 165 south of Monroe is the company’s first onshore renewable energy facility in Louisiana, though it may not be its last.

Hanson Wood, head of utility-scale renewable development at RWE Clean Energy, said his company is in the early stages of developing other projects in Louisiana, Arkansas and the rest of the South. The company anticipates continued growth in demand for renewable energy in Louisiana, although finding locations could be a challenge.

Wood said solar installations in Louisiana tend to be smaller — and therefore produce less energy — and use more water than installations in other parts of the country.

“However, we are involved in this market because we see a strong demand for energy and we want to meet that demand as best we can,” he said.

Lafitte Solar is expected to generate 100 megawatts of power on 700 acres. Some of RWE’s projects in the U.S. include facilities with capacities in excess of 300 to 400 megawatts.

Meta and RWE, considered the third-largest renewable energy company in the United States, are just the latest to enter the Louisiana solar market in the past decade, including companies in the Baton Rouge and Monroe areas.

Often in rural areas, some Louisiana solar projects have faced temporary building moratoriums or even outright rejection due to aesthetic concerns, lack of permanent jobs and loss of large agricultural areas. In one recent example, a 2,200-acre solar farm proposed in St. James Parish was rejected in June.

Demand for some solar farms is being driven by utilities that say they are meeting the renewable energy needs of their large industrial customers. In other cases, large corporations looking to cut carbon emissions, such as Amazon and Microsoft, have announced plans to build solar farms in Louisiana or buy power from them.

RWE supplies electricity to utilities and large commercial and industrial companies, Wood said.

Construction on the $166 million Lafitte Solar project is expected to begin in the third or fourth quarter of this year and will create 140 temporary jobs and five to six permanent jobs once built, Wood said. The solar farm is expected to generate $31 million in local tax revenue over the project’s 30-year life.

RWE and parish officials reached an agreement on payments in lieu of taxes and a separate community benefits agreement that could direct the money to specific projects or needs, company officials said. Details of that latest agreement were not available.

A Lafitte Solar spokeswoman said the company already has the appropriate state and federal permits.

Wood said Meta does not operate near the future Ouachita solar farm, but the power will be fed into the grid. The location south of Monroe provides a good access point.

Meta says its data centers and offices have been running on 100% renewable energy since 2021. Facebook’s parent company has invested $14.2 billion to produce 10.7 gigawatts of renewable energy, the company said.

Details of Meta’s agreement with RWE have not been disclosed.