(Bloomberg) — Meta Platforms Inc. is pushing to break into the wholesale power-trading business so it can better manage the massive electricity needs of its data centers.
The company, which owns Facebook, filed an application with US regulators this week seeking authorization for the move. A Meta representative said it was a natural next step to participate in energy markets as it looks to power its operations with clean energy.
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Buying electricity has become an increasingly urgent challenge for technology companies including Meta, Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. They’re all racing to develop more advanced artificial intelligence systems and tools that are notoriously resource-intensive.
While they consume huge amounts of electricity, big tech companies also have contracts for power that they can flip around and sell when prices are high.
“There will be opportunities to sell electricity into the wholesale markets and make a little extra money doing that,” said Pavel Molchanov, an analyst at Raymond James.
Plus, tech companies that have batteries or on-site generators at data centers can sell power from those back to the grid when prices spike, said Andy DeVries, a utilities and power analyst at CreditSights Inc.
Power demand from data centers used to build and run AI models is set to quadruple in 10 years, based on projections from BloombergNEF.
While many big tech companies have goals to power their operations with wind and solar, the massive demands of AI are prompting them to turn increasingly to natural gas-fired plants that run around the clock. Last month Louisiana regulators approved Entergy Corp.’s plan to build three natural gas plants to power Meta’s biggest data center.
Meta’s application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asking for authorization “to sell energy, capacity, and certain ancillary services.”
It filed filed the request through a subsidiary, Atem Energy LLC, formed to act as a power marketer. The company asked for its application to be approved by Nov. 16.
–With assistance from Ruth Liao.
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