Aug 26 - Facebook owner Meta Platforms ( META ) struck a

deal to buy up to 150 MW of geothermal power from Sage

Geosystems to supply its U.S. data centers, it said in a

statement on Monday, as it races to build out the infrastructure

to support its massive investments in energy-hungry artificial

intelligence.

The first phase of the project should be operational by 2027

and should "significantly" expand the use of geothermal power in

the United States, the social media company said.

Meta's announcement, made as part of a U.S. Department of

Energy event on geothermal development, comes as President Joe

Biden's administration is asking big technology companies to

invest in new climate-friendly power generation to cover their

surging electricity demand.

That surge has been driven by the adoption of technologies

like generative AI that require power-hungry data centers. This

development could complicate Biden's target of decarbonizing the

power sector by 2035 to fight climate change.

A Meta spokesperson told Reuters the company expected the

Sage Geosystems energy to be part of the grid, rather than

directly supplying any specific data center.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.