PUC approves Xcel Energy power deals for Meta data center in Rosemount
FILE - Attendees visit the Meta booth at the Game Developers Conference 2023, March 22, 2023, in San Francisco. Meta will continue to face a hefty fine over advertising practices that Norwegian regulators say violate user privacy, per a new court ruling. In July, Norway’s data protection authority, Datatilsynet, announced a “temporary ban” of behavioral advertising — a common marketing model that profiles users by collecting information like their physical locations, among other data — without adequate consent on Facebook and Instagram. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
A proposed data center owned and operated by an affiliate of Meta Platforms, Facebook’s parent company, took a step forward Thursday.
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approved three electric service agreements for Xcel Energy to power the planned data center in Rosemount.
The data center is on track to be built on part of the University of Minnesota’s UMore Park — located along the south side of County Road 42 and to the east of Dakota County Technical College — after the university approved selling the 280-acre plot to Meta last month.
PUC says adding a large new customer like Meta will benefit Xcel Energy’s customers because fixed costs are spread over a larger set of customers.
“The Commission was pleased to see broad record support for the Xcel petition,” PUC Commissioner Joseph Sullivan said in a statement. “It will bring jobs to the community, and the record shows that when operational, the data center will be good for all ratepayers on Xcel’s system.”
Documents list the owner and operator of the proposed data center as Amber Kestral but Meta has confirmed in separate filings that it is the business’s parent company.