The advance of technology in the Americas is unquestionable, as it is in the rest of the world. However, Meta has now set off all the alarms by announcing what could be the fall of the Internet in the whole country. The reason? Paradoxically, it is the use we make of it that could come to an end. The solution, whether it sounds like science fiction or not, is thousands of kilometers underground, at a temperature of 1000 °C, with a project that will mobilize the whole country and will be historic.
Meta is ready to “go green” with 100 % renewable energy: The most promising project ever
Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has unveiled aggressive plans to exploit geothermal power to run its data centers in the United States. This project, which was unveiled in August 2024, is part and parcel of Meta’s strategy to achieve Net Zero by 2030 and highlights the future of the geothermal system for clean energy.
Specifically, Meta cooperated with Sage Geosystems, a Houston-born startup that focuses on the promotion of unique geothermal energy projects. With this partnership, the partners seek to design new geothermal power plants that will support Meta’s next-generation data centers across the U.S. while at the same time offering clean power.
As you will read in this paper, Sage Geosystems is at the forefront of a new type of geothermal system. Conventional geothermal power plants depend on naturally occurring reservoirs of hot water, on the contrary, Sage ’s technique of GGS produces artificial reservoirs in hot, dry rock formations.
GSS technology to revolutionize the way energy is produced
There are some key features of the GGS technology that have shocked experts (and us, too):
- Drilling and water injection: It involves the injection of water into hot and dry rocks to form artificial reservoirs.
- Scalability: Sage says that their method can be scaled using cheap and available technologies in the oil and gas industries.
- Versatility: The development of this technology makes it possible to extract geothermal energy in areas that were previously considered unfeasible.
Up to 150 MW of geothermal energy will be drilled: Meta has unveiled its plans for the future
Meta is ambitious in terms of its partnership with Sage Geosystems, aiming to deliver up to 150 megawatts of geothermal power in the future. According to official sources, this will be the timeline of the project:
- Initial phase: It has the first phase of the plan, which is the ability to generate 8 MW of power by the year 2027.
- Expansion phase: Proposed to increase the capacity of the wind-operated power station up to 150 MW by the first 36 to 48 months of the next phase after completion of the first phase.
- Cost estimation: The first phase is estimated to be around $50 Million, though the values might alter as the project goes on.
More than 12,000 MW in renewable projects: That’s not enough for Meta, which is seeking this
Meta’s investment in geothermal energy is part of a larger trend among tech companies seeking to reduce their carbon footprint:
Renewable energy commitments: Currently, Meta has secured more than 12,000 MW in renewable energy projects internationally.
- AI and energy demand: The demand for higher-level AI requires more power in the form of data centers, which in turn is forcing these companies to look for cleaner power sources.
- Government support: The U.S. Department of Energy is on the forefront of encouraging geothermal development and considers it important in fulfilling climate targets.
As you can see, the Meta geothermal energy project could be the best solution to a problem that, although we have not yet faced it, could become a major obstacle to the development of humanity. Do you fear a general blackout for days because of solar storms? You can see that it won’t be like that, although the landscape could be similar due to excessive energy consumption: cities in the dark, without Internet access and returning to the Middle Ages.
