Facebook’s Prineville Data Center is being fueled by a partnership with Pacific Power support, which fits the mission of building and operating sustainable centers in the United States.

Of the 55 new solar and wind projects Facebook supports across 18 states, 1,033 megawatts are from projects located in Oregon, Montana and Utah, including two solar projects generating 100 megawatts in Crook County, according to a Facebook economic impact report released Tuesday.

“We are proud that our commitment to renewable energy has brought additional investment and benefits to communities in the U.S., including Central Oregon,” said Urvi Parekh, head of renewable energy at Facebook. “We appreciate the partnership of numerous utilities, developers and community members.

“It is clear that renewable energy is not only good for the environment but creates opportunities for businesses, people and communities.”

In March, the social media giant announced it would add two new buildings to its campus in Prineville that will make it the largest in its fleet of data centers in the United States.

The two new buildings will add 900,000 square feet to the campus, expanding the 11-building campus to 4.6 million square feet or the equivalent to nearly 80 football fields.

“We applaud the data centers for their commitment to energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy,” Prineville City Manager Steve Forrester said in an email. “Their commitment has resulted in Crook County and Prineville having the largest solar plant farms in Oregon.”

Prineville has a more robust power infrastructure in place today only because of the presence of data centers, Forrester said. The community also benefits. More than 500 high-paying jobs have been created as a direct result of the data center, creating the most economic stability seen in Crook County since the height of the timber industry after World War II, he said.

“The data centers replaced lost jobs with new industries like tech and construction and driven our economy when we needed it most,” he said.

Data centers are energy-intensive buildings, using large amounts of electricity to power servers and cooling equipment, according to the report.

Generally, they’re built in communities with low land costs, low and reliable energy and access to water.

Facebook’s efforts has generated more than 6 gigawatts of new wind and solar energy to the grid, creating over 40,000 jobs, Parekh said.

Through a partnership with Pacific Power, the Prineville center purchases renewable energy credits that the power utility uses to build and expand wind and solar energy farms, said Etta Lockey, Pacific Power vice president regulation, customer and community solutions.

The partnership supports Pacific Power’s renewable energy efforts that benefit all its customers. The credits from Facebook will go to expand and support a wind farm in Montana, Lockey said.

Prineville Mayor Jason Beebe said the community talks about the number of jobs and the resources used by the data center.

“I know that they are some of the most efficient data centers in the world, and as for the jobs, I believe there are over 300 full-time positions onsite,” Beebe said in an email.

Facebook has invested $2 billion in its Prineville data center, according to a company statement. Since 2010, when Facebook announced the data center, the company has partnered with Crook County schools, small businesses and nonprofits and has provided more than $2.9 million in community grants and support.