By: Diane Benjamin
META and Constellation Energy announced the Clinton Nuclear Power plant would provide a lot of electricity for META. https://blnnews.com/2025/06/06/nuclear-could-have-saved-farmland/
See this story: https://dceo.illinois.gov/news/press-release.28370.html
In 2023 Pritzker celebrated the opening of a META data center in Dekalb County. This line is in the story:
Meta also has upcoming projects in DeWitt and Morgan counties, and the three data centers will cumulatively add 300 megawatts of renewable energy to Illinois.
Are they building a data center in Dewitt County? They are buying all that electricity to use somewhere!
Illinois is offering incentives, this link is in the press release: https://dceo.illinois.gov/expandrelocate/incentives/datacenters.html
The Dekalb center created 1,200 construction jobs and 200 operating jobs.
Now see this link: https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2024/06/10/data-centers-are-coming-to-indiana-is-the-states-electricity-supply-ready/
META and other tech companies are building data centers in Indiana. This link shows META has one now in both Illinois and Indiana: https://datacenters.atmeta.com/blog/
Since I love rabbit holes, see this story: https://www.nprillinois.org/illinois/2023-06-30/dewitt-county-wind-farm-that-helps-power-meta-goes-online
It claims wind farms in around Clinton and Wapella help fuel the Dekalb center. What Dekalb doesn’t need is being sold to Indiana.
My question is: Where will the electricity META buys be used? Dekalb? A new Data Center? Indiana?
Did the Dekalb facility find out wind is unreliable? Go back to the 2nd link above. Pritzker proclaimed the Dekalb center was run on 100% “green” energy.
I love knowing WHY things happen, not just WHAT happened. I hope that’s why you read. I don’t have all the answers to my questions yet. Someday I will.
Haha imagine thinking “renewable” energy, aka solar and wind, can 100% power an always on data center that has zero tolerance for power outages. Solar and wind are by definition intermittent power sources. Data centers, by design, require constant and reliable power sources. Either the center built a giant battery using nasty lithium mined by massive diesel machines and socialist Chinese slave labor, or the “100% renewable ” data center is also getting energy from non renewable sources, like coal, nat gas, or nuclear.
Exactly DOGE – datacenters require 99.999% uptime = 5 minutes/year downtime.
You obviously can think critically whereas Pritzker’s voters can’t and he knows it.
I’ve been talking to Grok about this.
Your questions Diane – “Did the Dekalb facility find out wind is unreliable? Go back to the 2nd link above. Pritzker proclaimed the Dekalb center was run on 100% “green” energy.”
Pritzker’s statement that Dekalb will be powered by 100% renewables is false. It is/will be powered by a combination of coal, nuclear, natural gas and renewables. Renewables being the least of them.
Clinton Power will supply two things. 1 power. 2 Clean Energy Credits for META to offset the use of non renewables.
Pritzker’s intention is to make it sound like DeKalb power is completely wind and solar. This is to sell his Climate and Equitable Jobs Act and make himself look like he’s presidential material.
Bottom line is that given the massive power needs of AI, more coal, nuclear and gas will be burned but somehow “Clean Energy Credits” magically make it ALL “green” according to Pritzker. It’s called “Greenwashing”.
2. “My question is: Where will the electricity META buys be used? Dekalb? A new Data Center? Indiana?”
Answer is yes to all.
Meta’s purchase of Clinton’s entire output for 20 year will offset power currently used at DeKalb for Facebook, Instagram and others, the expansion of DeKalb for META AI (30–50% of Meta’s AI needs) and proposed Indiana data centers via the interconnection of our MISO electrical grid and Indiana’s grid.
Here is Grok’s estimation of the Cost and Benefit of this purchase.
Costs:
$5.31–8.84 billion over 20 years
Benefits:
Total benefits: ~$10.95–15.95 billion.
Breakdown
Energy cost savings: $5.3 billion over 20 years
Clean energy credits value: $2.65 billion
Operational savings: $1–2 billion
Tax credits: $3.54 billion
Revenue/market gains: ~$2–5 billion
Net gain: $2–7 billion over 20 years
If Pritzgers mouth is open he is either lying or stuffing a jelly donut in it.
Like money, electricity goes to where the demand is highest and the price is highest.