Meta has signed a PPA with Apex Clean Energy for the 144-MW Starling Solar project in Gonzales County, a deal Apex says was likely needed for the project to proceed. Meta will claim the solar facility’s environmental attributes, even as it plans to source power for a new El Paso data center from a 366-MW natural gas plant and has left the RE100 initiative. Analysts say renewables could meet AI demand if prioritized, while critics worry Meta’s rapid expansion and gas reliance undercut emissions and local air-quality goals. Starling is expected to create hundreds of construction jobs, deliver landowner payments, and begin operations next year.
Meta Backs 144-MW Texas Solar Project While Expanding Data Centers Fueled by Natural Gas
Despite big Texas solar purchase agreement, Meta still uses lots of gas
Apex Clean Energy and Meta have signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the 144-megawatt Starling Solar project in Gonzales County, Texas. Apex says the project likely would not have moved forward without Meta’s financial support. Under the deal, Meta will be entitled to claim “all environmental attributes” from the project’s output.
At the same time, Meta is expanding its data center footprint and relying in part on natural gas. The company plans to source power for a planned El Paso data center from a 366-megawatt natural gas plant, and this year Meta quietly withdrew from Climate Group’s RE100 corporate-renewable initiative after roughly a decade of membership. Meta says these choices do not change its broader clean-energy commitments and notes it has helped add more than 30 gigawatts of new clean energy to U.S. grids to date.
What The Starling Deal Means
By claiming the environmental attributes from Starling Solar, Meta can apply those renewables toward its overall electricity accounting — offsetting some of the power it uses from gas-fired generation. However, analysts and environmental advocates say that claiming attributes on the books does not eliminate the local air-pollution and greenhouse gas emissions caused by operating natural gas plants.
“I applaud Meta for trying. They have been very active in the past in building out or paying for the build-out of renewable energy across the United States,” said Dennis Wamsted, an energy analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. “But in some regards they're taking what could be called the easy way out.”
Wamsted and others argue that the rapid build-out of AI-focused data centers need not require a heavier reliance on gas, and that wind and solar can be deployed quickly enough to serve AI workloads if companies prioritize that approach.
Context: Texas Grid, Demand and Local Impacts
Solar has become an increasingly valuable resource in Texas. The state recently experienced record-high electricity demand, driven by extreme heat and an influx of data centers; renewables supplied roughly one-third of Texas’ in-state electricity last year. Apex says Starling Solar will help bolster the ERCOT grid and deliver local economic benefits: Meta and Apex project roughly $27 million in tax revenue over the project’s lifetime, about $26.3 million in landowner payments, and 400–450 construction jobs. Starling is scheduled to begin operations next year.
Separately, in August Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered utility regulators and the grid operator to audit every data center waiting to connect to the ERCOT grid, including reviews of water consumption and water-efficiency practices. Regulators may deny interconnection to facilities that fail to meet audit requirements.
Bottom Line
The Starling Solar agreement adds a meaningful renewable project to Texas’ mix and provides Meta with renewable attributes it can count toward its goals. Still, the company’s simultaneous reliance on a large natural gas resource for a new El Paso data center — and its exit from RE100 — have intensified scrutiny of how tech companies balance rapid AI-driven expansion with climate and local environmental impacts.
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