WASHINGTON: Facebook, the social networking site, has begun construction in Texas of its fifth data centre which is fully powered by wind energy.

The massive, 46,500 sq.m, complex in Fort Worth will employ around 40 people and will cost around 500 million dollors, EFE news agency quoted the company as saying.

"Our data centres power Facebook and will help connect billions of people acorss the globe in the coming years," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

"Fort Worth will be one of the most advanced and energy efficient data centres in the world."

The hardware used in the complex, to be operational by the end of 2016, will be developed through the Open Commute Project that brings together hundreds of companies including Apple and Microsoft to share data centre designs.

As part of an agreement between Facebook and the Texas government, the company will participate in the construction of a wind park, which will take care of the plant's electricity needs and also supply around 200 mega watt (MW) to Texas' grid.

Facebook already has four data centres, one in the Swedish city of Lulea and the other three in U.S. -- Altoona in Iowa, Prineville in Oregon and Forest City in North Carolina

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