Meta is moving toward entering the electricity trading market as it seeks to speed up the construction of new power plants needed to support its growing network of data centers.
According to Bloomberg, both Meta and Microsoft have requested federal approval to buy and sell power — a green light Apple has already secured. Meta says this step will enable it to commit to long-term energy purchases from new power projects while reducing financial risk by giving it the option to resell excess electricity on wholesale markets.
Urvi Parekh, Meta’s head of global energy, told Bloomberg that power developers “want to know that the consumers of power are willing to put skin in the game.”
She added that the expansion of the grid isn’t happening fast enough to meet the company’s future needs. “Without Meta taking a more active voice in the need to expand the amount of power that’s on the system, it’s not happening as quickly as we would like,” Parekh said.
Bloomberg also highlighted the scale of the energy demand behind tech giants’ AI ambitions. In Meta’s case, at least three new gas-fired power plants will be required to supply electricity for its massive data center campus in Louisiana.
