Meta and Spanish renewable energy developer Zelestra have signed a new long-term power purchase agreement covering a 180-megawatt solar facility in Texas, extending a partnership that now spans eight projects and roughly 1.4 gigawatts of contracted solar capacity across the United States.

New Texas Project Adds to Growing Portfolio

The latest agreement centers on the Palmera Solar Plant, located in Freestone County, Texas. The facility carries a direct-current capacity of 180 MWdc and an alternating-current rating of 140 MWac. As with prior agreements between the two companies, the deal is structured as a long-term power purchase agreement, under which Meta commits to buying the electricity output to help meet the power demands of its data center operations.

Freestone County sits in central Texas, a region that has emerged as a significant hub for utility-scale solar development given its grid interconnection options and available land. The Palmera project represents at least the second Texas solar venture the two companies have pursued together, according to the source reporting.

Partnership Reaches 1.4 GW Across Eight Projects

With the Palmera agreement signed, Zelestra and Meta now hold PPAs covering approximately 1.4 GWdc of solar generation spread across eight projects in the United States. All eight facilities are expected to reach operational status, though the sources do not specify individual commercial operation dates for each project.

The scale of the combined portfolio reflects both the pace at which Meta has been contracting for clean electricity and Zelestra's ability to develop large-scale solar assets at a speed that matches the tech sector's appetite. Meta has been on what observers have described as a PPA signing spree, adding renewable energy contracts as its data center footprint—and the electricity consumption that comes with it—continues to expand.

Data Center Demand Driving Renewable Contracting

The recurring thread across all three source reports is the link between Meta's surging electricity demand and its aggressive procurement of solar power. Data centers supporting Meta's platforms and, increasingly, its artificial intelligence workloads require substantial and reliable power supplies. Long-term PPAs with developers like Zelestra offer the company both cost predictability and a mechanism for matching its consumption with new renewable generation added to the grid.

Zelestra, for its part, has built a substantial U.S. development pipeline anchored in large part by the Meta relationship. Securing offtake agreements of this scale with a creditworthy counterparty provides the revenue certainty needed to move projects through permitting, financing, and construction. The eight-project, 1.4 GWdc portfolio represents one of the more concentrated bilateral solar development relationships currently active in the U.S. market.

The sources do not provide a timeline for when construction on the Palmera Solar Plant is expected to begin or when it is projected to reach commercial operation, nor do they disclose financial terms of the PPA.