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Meta has agreed to purchase every single watt of electricity generated by what will be the largest solar power project to begin construction in the US. The deal underscores a broader, aggressive push by Big Tech to lock down renewable energy capacity as data centers multiply across the country.
The arrangement involves RWE’s 200 MWac Waterloo Solar project, with construction slated to begin in late 2025 under a long-term power purchase agreement. For context, 200 megawatts of solar capacity is enough to power roughly 40,000 homes, though Meta has other plans for those electrons.
The data center power grab
The Waterloo Solar deal isn’t a one-off. It follows two prior agreements between Meta and German energy giant RWE, covering a 274 MWac project in Illinois and a 100 MWac facility in Louisiana. Taken together, Meta has now locked in three separate solar PPAs with a single developer.
And Meta wasn’t done. In a separate deal executed in July 2025, the company secured 100% of output from Enbridge’s 600 MW Clear Fork solar facility in Texas. That project carries an estimated price tag of around $900 million.
Amazon wants in too
Meta isn’t the only tech giant playing this game. Amazon has been approved to acquire the 1.2 GW Sunstone solar-plus-storage project in Oregon, one of the largest planned solar sites in the entire country. At 1.2 gigawatts, that’s roughly six times the capacity of Meta’s Waterloo project.
What this means for investors
For renewable energy investors, the signal is loud and clear. Demand from hyperscale tech buyers is creating a floor under solar development that didn’t exist a few years ago. When a company like Meta signs a long-term PPA, it guarantees revenue for the project developer, de-risks financing, and makes it easier to attract capital for the next project.
RWE, the German utility behind the Waterloo project, is a direct beneficiary. Enbridge, the Canadian pipeline giant that’s been diversifying into renewables, also stands to gain from the Clear Fork deal.
There’s also the question of what happens if AI demand growth slows or a major tech company restructures its data center plans. Long-term PPAs are contracts, and breaking them has consequences, but the energy market has seen corporate off-takers walk away from deals before. Developers banking on 15 or 20-year revenue streams need to price that tail risk appropriately.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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