Cupertino Electric (CEI), the Silicon Valley-based engineering and construction-services company that gets a lot of data center business, has opened an office in Prineville, Oregon.

The small rural town is where Facebook has built a data center, putting the town on the map, and where Apple is building one now. There have been reports of a third company planning to build another data center there.

CEI president and CEO John Boncher said the company had decided to put its fifth US office in Prineville to extend its service to existing and prospective clients in the Pacific Northwest.

“Oregon’s business climate, weather and abundant natural resources make Prineville a great location for our fifth United States-based office,” he said. “We look forward to establishing an even greater connection with the local Prineville community.”

To make sure Facebook has enough power to expand its data center and Apple can power its future facility there, local energy provider Pacific Power, a PacifiCorp subsidiary, announced in March a plan to accelerate the project to add 400MW of electrical capacity to its Ponderosa substation in the area.

Instead of June 2013, the company now plans to complete the project by January 2013.

A local congressman praised the decision, saying the new timeline will help Facebook’s expansion plans and assure there is enough energy in Prineville for other companies looking for a place to build data centers.

“It shows other companies interested in building data centers in the region that we are open for business,” republican US representative Greg Walden said.

Walden has also pushed through the House a bill that expanded the amount of water available to Prineville. This was also done to strengthen the region’s credentials as a major data center destination.

The bill is currently in the senate, going through a committee review.