Facebook to be powered by 100MW of solar in New Mexico

October 22, 2018
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Each of the 50MW plants will require US$70 million investment. Credit: Facebook

NM Renewable Development, LLC (NMRD), a joint venture between subsidiaries of utilities PNM Resources and American Electric Power, will build two 50MW solar PV projects in New Mexico to power Facebook facilities.

Last week, PNM Resources' New Mexico utility, PNM, received approval from the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (NMPRC) to purchase the generation from the two projects in order to continue serving the Facebook data centre in New Mexico with what is claimed to be 100% renewable energy.

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 first facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2019, followed by the second facility in June 2020. Each plant will require US$70 million investment and is expected create approximately 200 construction jobs.

“With these two new projects, we have worked with PNM to bring 396MW of new wind and solar projects that will contribute to a greener grid and help bring more renewable energy and investment to New Mexico,” said Bobby Hollis, head of Global Energy at Facebook. “We appreciate New Mexico's supportive environment that has enabled us to procure this amount of renewable energy so quickly.”

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.
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

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.
October 15, 2025
The average price of a solar PPA signed in North America increased 4% between the second and third quarters of 2025, according to LevelTen.
October 15, 2025
Independent power producer (IPP) Geronimo has begun construction on it’s150MW solar project in Illinois and commissioned the 125MW PV project in Michigan.
Premium
October 14, 2025
OCI Holdings’ decision this week to buy a Vietnamese solar wafer facility to supply the US solar cell manufacturing industry makes clear the biggest vulnerability facing the sector today.
October 14, 2025
Apple will support 650MW of projects as part of a major expansion of its renewable energy investments in Europe, aimed at reducing its carbon footprint.

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