Meta and Apex Clean Energy have signed a power purchase agreement for the 144-MW Starling Solar project in Gonzales County, Texas. The project is expected to start commercial operations in 2027 and will supply renewable energy certificates to Meta, supporting the company's 100% renewable energy goal. The deal adds to Meta's existing portfolio with Apex, bringing their combined clean energy commitments to about 1.2 GW across multiple states. The agreement comes as Texas faces surging electricity demand from data centers and manufacturing. Solar is set to surpass coal in ERCOT's generation mix by 2026, according to EIA forecasts. Long-term corporate PPAs like this one help finance new renewable capacity and provide revenue certainty for developers. However, grid interconnection and transmission upgrades remain key challenges, and ERCOT has introduced a new batch process for large load connections to manage the growth.
