Even though there were several front pages since yesterday that exposed Facebook's move to use wind energy in its new data centers, you probably shouldn't believe them yet even if they come from “reliable” sources.
In reality, there is no realistic way to directly power a datacenter with wind power alone. To balance the energy levels so that demand and availability meet, it would be necessary to take several steps to store the energy in units to smooth the power supply curve.
On a smaller scale, facilities that rely 100% on wind or solar power generally use battery banks to provide a steady supply of power, from wind turbines or solar panels to keep the batteries charged. While this is a practical solution for a small building or a home located far from the power grid, it is not ideal for a datacenter.
And Facebook 's new facilities will not depend on wind energy in any way.
Representation of the appearance of the planned wind park
Facebook is partnering with the local utility to build a 138 MW wind farm in the area for its new facility in Iowa. Despite the proximity, the wind farm will not power the data center. Rather, the data center will draw power from the same grid that the wind farm will power. Facebook’s goal is to power the data center with 100% renewable energy. The company will need to use the EPA’s renewable energy certificate program, as they have apparently retained the REC rights to the wind farm construction project.
One REC is created for every 1000 kWh generated from the renewable energy source. These certificates will be used by Facebook to offset and measure the energy needs of the new data center. EPA can only be used once, and once sold, it is now counted as green energy.
Thus, even if there is a lot of smoke and many posts that want the company to use green energy, in Facebook's case the truth is that an effort is being made to create an infrastructure of renewable energy sources for its data centers.
