Avangrid, PGE sign 120MW PPA backed by Meta data centre

December 3, 2024
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
The RECs from the Tower Solar project will be sold to QTS, which is constructing a data centre for Meta. Image: Avangrid

US solar project developer Avangrid has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Oregon state utility Portland General Electric (PGE) for its 120MW Tower Solar project in Morrow County, Oregon.

Power from the project, which is under construction, will be sold to PGE under a 25-year contract and marketed through its Green Future Impact (GFI) scheme. This scheme allows large corporate and industrial customers to purchase renewable energy certificates (RECs) for projects connected to PGE’s grid.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

The RECs from the Tower Solar project will be sold to data centre firm QTS, which is constructing a data centre for cloud data giant Meta in the region. Meta has committed to using 100% renewable energy for its operations.

By using RECs, companies pay for the renewable energy produced at a site without necessarily sourcing their electrons from renewable sources.

Tower Solar will be located on industrially-zoned land designated for industrial projects owned by the Port of Morrow. Avangrid said it will deploy around 200,000 solar modules once construction is complete in 2026. The company did not confirm the module technology or suppliers for the site.

Pedro Azagra, Avangrid CEO, said: “Projects like this are important to furthering the country’s energy independence and represent our continued investment in the region.”

PPA deals to supply data centres are becoming more common. Avangrid and Meta – which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – have already struck a supply deal for the 240MW True North solar project in Texas to supply power to a data centre in the state, and tech and data giants including Amazon, Meta and Google have become the largest private buyers of solar power in the US.

“The Green Future Impact program allows PGE to partner with our largest customers like QTS to meet their ambitious sustainability goals through local clean energy,” said Brett Greene, PGE senior director of clean energy origination and structuring.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has forecast that, while data centres may not play a huge role in the global growth in electricity demand over the coming decade, their impact on a local level could be significant.

“In large economies like the United States, China and the European Union, data centres account for around 2-4% of total electricity consumption today. But because they tend to be spatially concentrated, their local impact can be pronounced,” an IEA article from October said. “The sector has already surpassed 10% of electricity consumption in at least five US states. In Ireland, it now accounts for over 20% of all electricity consumption.”

According to the website Data Centre Map, Oregon currently has 113 data centres, 30 of which are in the Boardman market. This is the same region where Tower Solar is being built, though the data centre may be elsewhere in PGE’s remit.

This makes Oregon the state with the eighth-most data centres in the US, as per the website’s data. All of the listed data centres in and around Boardman are owned by Amazon Web Services, the data collection and storage subsidiary of online marketplace Amazon.

Data from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), a US trade body, shows that Amazon has the largest contracted solar project pipeline of any US corporation, with over 13.5GW of capacity.  

21 October 2025
New York, USA
Returning for its 12th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
25 November 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Large Scale Solar Central and Eastern Europe continues to be the place to leverage a network that has been made over more than 10 years, to build critical partnerships to develop solar projects throughout the region.
16 June 2026
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 16-17 June 2026, will be our fifth PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2027 and beyond.

Read Next

Premium
October 17, 2025
According to Ronak Maheshwari of CRC-IB, there has been a struggle for US renewable power projects to secure necessary equity .
October 17, 2025
Norwegian renewable energy firm Scatec has signed lease agreements for 64MW of solar PV and 10MWh of energy storage capacity in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
October 17, 2025
A group of over 20 US states are suing the Trump administration for the cancellation of the US$7 billion Solar For All Scheme.
October 16, 2025
Masdar and Turkey have entered the final stage of US$1 billion agreement to develop the 1.1GW plant in Bor, Niğde Province, central Turkey.
October 16, 2025
T1 Energy and Nextracker have agreed to use the latter’s steel module frames at the former’s new 5GW module manufacturing facility in Dallas.
October 16, 2025
US utility-scale solar additions grew by 56% in 2024, reaching 30GW from 2023’s 19GW and representing over 54% of all new electricity generation capacity added in the country last year.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
October 21, 2025
New York, USA
Solar Media Events
November 25, 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Solar Media Events
December 2, 2025
Málaga, Spain
Solar Media Events
February 3, 2026
London, UK