I hate Facebook as much as the next red blooded HN member and agree on public subsidies, but
FTA (from Facebook)
`“a significant deviation of our understanding of the terms and conditions”`
` the ruling could affect its long-term operations in the state, raising costs and putting in doubt plans to use 100 percent renewable energy to run the facility, Facebook said.`
I live in the state. A lot of silly in government, always has been, and I'd really like to see tech (and other good) jobs not be continually driven out by politician's short term thinking.
Don't see how Facebook is a fundamentally tech job at this point, any more than a machine-learning powered slaughterhouse would be. It's a dark-pattern, privacy invasion and dossier company that happens to use (and true often research) a lot of new technology to accomplish its goals.
Facebook can afford that out of pocket change. Bluster about unexpected expenses will not precede any changes to plans. Somebody at FB just thought they should be pushing back, on principle.
But the offer to Facebook was not authorized by statute, so the contract is void. They will end up having to negotiate a new contract, with terms consistent with State law, if they want any its power. (They can build their own solar farm if they like; it is sunny in NM much of the time.)
The Article is just re-reporting the Albuquerque Journal, which has a better description[1]. The power company (PNM) planned to split the costs of the grid upgrade between wholesale payers and the ratepayers. The regulator ruled that PNM cannot charge the ratepayers, but PNM did not include the the grid upgrade in the contract with Facebook. It seems that the power company is the one stuck holding the bag.
Thank you. I was curious about the magnitude of the deal as compared to their other revenues, didn't find what I was looking for, but someone with better annual report reading skills may see something useful in PNM's 10K and the note specific to the Facebook deal at pdf page 194 https://www.pnmresources.com/~/media/Files/P/PNM-Resources/q...
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 19.6 ms ] threadAs to fears of it pushing other companies away? We shouldn't miss companies that want handouts. How many people does the datacenter even employ? 12? Only 8 openings at the moment: https://www.facebook.com/careers/locations/loslunas/?locatio...
FTA (from Facebook) `“a significant deviation of our understanding of the terms and conditions”` ` the ruling could affect its long-term operations in the state, raising costs and putting in doubt plans to use 100 percent renewable energy to run the facility, Facebook said.`
I live in the state. A lot of silly in government, always has been, and I'd really like to see tech (and other good) jobs not be continually driven out by politician's short term thinking.
But the offer to Facebook was not authorized by statute, so the contract is void. They will end up having to negotiate a new contract, with terms consistent with State law, if they want any its power. (They can build their own solar farm if they like; it is sunny in NM much of the time.)
[1] https://www.abqjournal.com/