Meta has submitted an application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to start selling wholesale power.

Last week, Atem Energy, a subsidiary of Meta, submitted an application seeking authorization to participate in energy markets. In the application, Meta stated that it seeks approval by November 16.

If successful, Atem will act as a power marketer to support its parent company’s data center operations. This will enable Meta to secure large-scale power commitments under favorable terms and sell any excess it doesn't use.

The application seeks direct authorization from FERC to “sell energy, capacity, and certain ancillary services.” It does not disclose where it would seek to trade power. It will be required to file for membership if it aims to trade in one of the US’s competitive power markets, such as the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, where it is currently developing its flagship Louisiana data center.

Atem was formed by Meta this year and is wholly owned by the Mark Zuckerberg-run company. According to the application, it was "formed to act as a power marketer to sell energy, capacity, and certain ancillary services at wholesale in the United States."

The decision by Meta is predicated on skyrocketing energy demand emanating from the artificial intelligence data center market. Its planned Louisiana data center is expected to have a capacity exceeding 2GW and will be powered by three combined-cycle gas turbines with a capacity of 2.26GW, built and operated by utility Entergy.

Late last year, the company also announced a request for proposals to identify potential nuclear energy developers to support 1.4GW of new nuclear generation capacity across the US.

Following the RFP, the company signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Constellation Energy for more than 1.1GW of power from a nuclear power plant in Clinton, Illinois.

The company has also signed numerous renewable supply agreements to decarbonize its operations. In June, the firm procured almost 800MW of renewable power from Invenergy to power its US data center portfolio.

However, its renewable strategy has come under fire due to a reliance on Environmental Attributes Purchase Agreement (EAPA) over PPAs. EAPAs do not involve the direct purchase of energy. Instead, they represent the purchase of the project's environmental benefits through renewable energy credits, with the power generated fed directly into the grid. This has led critics to contend that they represent the lowest quality of renewable energy investment.