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Utah is one of two states targeted by Facebook as the potential site of a data center, according to documents power companies have filed with state regulators in Utah and New Mexico.
Last month, Rocky Mountain Power asked the Utah Public Service Commission to approve a renewable-energy contract with the social media giant, a contract that utility representatives told the commission was made possible by the Legislature's recent passage of the Sustainable Transportation and Energy Plan, or STEP.
Facebook and Rocky Mountain Power "have been diligently negotiating an agreement for several months," the electricity provider's filing states, and have agreed to terms in a confidential contract — details of which are redacted from the testimony of power company executives.
Facebook spokeswoman Lindsay Amos wrote in an email that the company is "always evaluating potential new sites," but that "we're not committing to anything right now."
"[I]t's important to have all the information we need readily available — including our access to renewable energy," she wrote. "By doing work upfront, we can move fast when we do need more capacity."
Facebook data centers house the photos, videos and status updates shared by Facebook's 1.65 billion users.
Rocky Mountain Power has a hearing with the commission on Aug. 18.
The Public Service Co. of New Mexico is seeking approval from its state regulators by Aug. 31, forgoing a public hearing to keep pace with Utah.
Included in Rocky Mountain Power's filing is a 2014 economic analysis of what one utility executive described as a "similar" Facebook data center in Forest City, N.C., which estimates that the operation had added roughly $700 million to the state's economy over three years, including construction. Other centers are located in Texas, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Sweden.
A representative of the Governor's Office of Economic Development declined to comment.
The proposed location of Utah's would-be data center was not immediately known.
The Albuquerque Journal reported that a New Mexico data center might be destined for Los Lunas, a village 25 miles southwest of Albuquerque, where the council last month approved up to $30 billion in industrial revenue bonds for a data center.
Rocky Mountain Power executive Paul Clements testified to the commission that "it was important for Facebook to have 100 percent of its electric energy serving its facilities generated by renewable energy."
Under STEP, the utility proposed a renewable-energy tariff that allows customers using an electric load 5 megawatts or greater to receive customized rates.
The Salt Lake Tribune will update this story as information becomes available.
Twitter: @matthew_piper