Meta Hyperscale Site Selection Choices Drive Regional Development

Social media giant Meta is using its huge investments in hyperscale data centers to drive economic development and support the expansion of renewable energy in regions that have strong demographics for sustainable growth, most recently in Idaho and Iowa.

Meta has announced it will build an $800-million, 960,000 SF hyperscale data center in Kuna, ID, a suburb of Boise, one of the hottest tech hubs in the nation. Meta will receive a new sales tax exemption, on server equipment and construction materials used to build the data center, that Idaho recently established for capital for capital investments of at least $250M.

The Meta Kuna Data Center, opening in 2025, will be powered 100 percent by renewable energy as the first customer of Idaho Power’s Clean Energy Your Way Program. The program allows industrial customers to develop their own renewable energy resources and hook them up to Idaho Power’s grid. Meta also will build a new $50M water and sewer system for Kuna.

Boise-based Idaho Power, which serves a 24,000-square-mile are in Idaho and Oregon, is growing its hydropower resources as it aims to meet a goal of providing 100 percent renewable energy by 2045. The utility operates 17 low-cost hydroelectric power plants.

Boise’s thriving tech hub, superior quality of life and affordability made it one of the fastest-growing metros in the US last year, a magnet for migrating millennials. However, success comes with a price: the affordability tag may soon be overtaken by surging housing prices this year in Boise.

Last month, Meta announced that it will purchase the entire output of the 225MW Great Pathfinder wind farm in Boone and Hamilton counties in central Iowa to power an expansion of Meta’s hyperscale data center in Altoona, IA, which will grow to 5 million SF by 2025. The wind farm is expected to go on line before the end of this year,

Meta cited Iowa’s status as a national leader in wind energy and its business-friendly climate as key factors behind Meta’s decision to increase its investment in the Altoona campus. Iowa’s installed wind power capacity is second only to Texas; Iowa is the state that generates the highest percentage of electricity from wind power.

“Iowa’s ability to host high-quality wind projects, while providing a welcoming business environment, has made it a great home for our data center,” Meta Director of Renewable Energy Urvi Parekh said in a statement.

In 2021, Meta (then known as Facebook) said it has supported more than 63 renewable energy projects in 18 states. In 2020, the social media giant said it had achieved its goal of carbon neutrality. Parekh said Meta is committed to developing renewable energy wherever it operates its hyperscale facilities.