Facebook plans to build an $800 million data center in Tennessee - the second such facility Facebook has announced in the Tennessee Valley in the past two years.
The new 982,000-square-foot data center under construction in Gallatin for Facebook is expected to employ about 100 workers, state economic development officials announced Wednesday.
The center, located about 30 miles northeast of Nashville, will house various types of workers, including technical operations, electricians, logistics staff and security. It is one of 18 such data centers, including 13 in the United States, that Facebook has built or is developing around the world to store and distribute the massive amounts of information the tech giant handles with more than 2.7 billion users around the globe.
"We chose Gallatin because of its terrific infrastructure, talented workforce, and the spirit of partnership the community offered," said Rachel Peterson, vice president of data center strategy for Facebook. "This technology is actually what makes Facebook work, allowing people around the world to connect to each other."
The announcement Wednesday follows three years of recruitment by state and local economic development officials and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
"It is a testament to the quality of our business environment and the competitive spirit of our state that in this economy we are able to attract one of the world's largest companies to our state," Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Wednesday in an announcement of Facebook's plans.
Last year, Facebook said it will build a $750 million data center in Huntsville, Alabama, The 970,00-square-foot facility Facebook is building in North Alabama will also employ about 100 workers and, as a condition of locating in Alabama, Facebook wanted to all of its electricity generated from renewable sources.
Facebook has already reached a deal with TVA to serve the new data centers in both Tennesse and Alabama entirely with purchased solar energy.
Google is also using solar generation to power its $600 million data center it opened near Bridgeport, Alabama on part of the former TVA Widows Creek Fossil Plant.
Google, Facebook, General Motors and Vanderbilt University have each contracted with TVA to buy entirely carbon-free electricity through TVA's Green Invest program.
Since January, TVA says its Green Invest program has generated $1.6 billion in economic activity in its 7-state region and helped boost TVA's overall output of carbon-free energy to 60% of all electricity sold in the Tennessee Valley.