Two projects feeding 180 MW of solar to Facebook enter service

D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments announced commercial operation of the Cove Mountain and Cove Mountain II solar projects, both part of a PPA frenzy that Facebook undertook beginning last fall.

April 15, 2021 Tim Sylvia

Image: Utah Solar Energy Association

D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments has announced commercial operation of the 180 MW Cove Mountain solar projects in Iron County, Utah, northeast of Las Vegas.

Cove Mountain (58 MW) and Cove Mountain II (122 MW) both have long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with PacifiCorp on behalf of Facebook, fulfilling a considerable portion of the electricity need of Facebook’s data center operations.

Swinerton Renewable Energy constructed the projects.

The two Cove Mountain projects were part of a flurry of PPAs that Facebook signed last fall, a portfolio that also included projects in Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee and Ireland which, when combined with the Cove Mountain project, came out to roughly 806 MW of solar and wind power.

Cove Mountain and Cove Mountain II weren’t the only projects Facebook targeted in Utah, signing additional PPAs for Graphite Solar, an 80-MW installation coming to being developed by rPlus Energies in Carbon County; Rocket Solar, another 80-MW installation, this time in Box Elder County, developed by D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments and Enyo Renewable Energy; and D.E. Shaw Renewable and Enyo endeavor, the 75-MW Horseshoe Solar installation coming to Tooele County.

Cove Mountain and Cove Mountain 2 represent two of D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments’ nine projects that are currently operating, under construction, or have signed PPAs in Utah.

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