Meta boosts geothermal investment for AI data centres

The surging demand for electricity driven by AI development is a major factor, with power grids struggling to keep pace. This growing need is, in turn, providing a significant boost to geothermal startups like XGS Energy. Urvi Parekh, global head of energy at Meta, highlighted this synergy in a press release, stating that “Advances in AI require continued energy to support infrastructure development.” She added that with technologies like XGS ready for scale, “geothermal can be a major player in supporting the advancement of technologies like AI as well as domestic data centre development.”

Traditional geothermal plants extract hot fluids or steam from natural underground reservoirs to generate electricity, a method limited by specific geological formations. Consequently, geothermal sources currently account for only about half a percent of US electricity.

Startups like XGS Energy are working to overcome these limitations. Last year, Meta made a separate 150MW deal with Sage Geosystems, another company developing new geothermal power plants. Sage’s technology focuses on harnessing energy from hot, dry rock formations by drilling and pumping water underground to create artificial reservoirs. Google has a similar partnership with Fervo, which is developing comparable technology.

XGS Energy also seeks to exploit geothermal energy from dry rock resources, but distinguishes itself by reusing water in a closed-loop process. This design prevents water from escaping into rock fissures, ensuring the water used to transfer underground heat circulates within a steel casing. Water conservation is particularly critical in drought-prone states like New Mexico, where Meta is expanding its Los Lunas data centre.

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Meta declined to disclose the financial terms of its agreement with XGS Energy. The initiative will unfold in two phases, with an operational target of 2030.

Meta committed to achieving net-zero emissions by the end of the decade in 2020. However, the energy-intensive nature of its growing data centres, driven by AI, poses a significant challenge to these climate goals unless they can run on cleaner energy. Just last week, Meta announced plans to acquire more carbon pollution-free electricity by helping revive an old nuclear reactor. Conversely, a utility in Louisiana has proposed building three new gas-fired power plants to support a giant new Meta data centre in that state. Like other tech giants, Meta has seen its planet-heating pollution increase since setting its climate goals as it continues to pursue success in AI.