Meta Altoona Data Center Campus

Economics

Jobs

400 permanent

Energy & water

Energy source

Wind · Utility: MidAmerican Energy

Cooling

Evaporative

Served by MidAmerican Energy; Meta matches load with long-term Iowa wind PPAs, including the 225 MW Great Pathfinder Wind project (Boone & Hamilton Counties, Apex Clean Energy, ~2022) tied to Altoona. MidAmerican delivered ~100% renewable to its Iowa customers in 2022. No on-site generation.

Evaporative cooling with outside-air economization ~93% of the year (Meta design). Altoona utility director Daniel Scott: the campus 'can use up to a million gallons of water a day, one fifth of what the city can produce' - a permit peak/ceiling, not a measured average; a city agreement caps Meta at up to 16% of Altoona's supply. Water drawn from the Jordan Aquifer. No verified operational daily-use figure has been disclosed.

Public subsidies

• City of Altoona 20-year property-tax waiver (Building 5 / Siculus LLC, ~1M sq ft) - Meta instead pays ~$3/sq ft (~$3M/yr), roughly a 40% discount; IEDA High Quality Jobs program
  City of Altoona, IA · 2019
  Facebook receives tax incentive to build fifth Altoona data center
• Iowa data-center sales & use tax exemption (Iowa Code sec. 423.3(95)) on equipment, cooling, and electricity - eligibility met; per-campus dollar value undisclosed
  State of Iowa · 2013
  Facebook receives tax incentive to build fifth Altoona data center

Community sentiment