Facebook has unveiled its plans to construct a new solar-powered data centre in Mesa, Phoenix, Arizona. $800 million will be given to the new investment that will provide approximately 100 new jobs and 1,400 construction jobs to the city.
The data centre will house switches, routers, servers, storage systems, and other equipment. Facebook says power will come from three new solar facilities in Pinal County along with the Salt River Project. A council member stated that the solar plants will put about 450MW of power back into the power grid.
The facility, to be located north of the Gateway Airport and will occupy 960,000 square feet in its first phase. It will use more than 50 per cent less water than the average data centre, and that the water will be recycled several times before being used for agriculture. The facility is expected to go into operation in 2023. The Mesa data centre will be among the most advanced, water and energy-efficient data centre facilities in the world and will be part of the tech giant’s global infrastructure that brings its services and apps to people around the world.
“We are thrilled to be breaking ground on our newest data centre, Mesa stood out as a great location for a number of reasons,” Rachel Peterson, VP of infrastructure at Facebook, said. “It has great access to infrastructure, opportunities for renewable energy development, strong talent for both construction and operations, and great community partners.”
