Intel has begun testing using solar energy to power a data center in New Mexico, with a photovoltaic array generating 10 kilowatts of power. But it will be years, if ever, before solar power comes into widespread use as the sole means of powering data centers.

The Observer in Rio Rancho, New Mexico reports that Intel is using an array of 64 Sharp solar panels to generate electricity for a demonstration data center. Marty Sedler, Intel’s director for global utilities and infrastructure, told the newspaper that the deployment will "potentially lead the way for a more aggressive solar program within Intel."

The solar powers will be used to power data center containers, rather than a traditional data center. The containers use much less power than traditional data centers. The newspaper reports that the Intel system:
will offset an estimated 907,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas, by 2025, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That is equivalent to as much carbon dioxide produced by 919,005 miles driven in an average car.
All those are very nice figures. But unfortunately, for the foreseeable future, solar-powered data centers will remain primarily a dream rather than a reality.

Data Center Knowledge has an excellent rundown on the problems solar energy faces when it comes to powering data center. The problem is twofold: Data centers require more electricity than solar power produces, and solar power remains very expensive.

The blog notes that
At last May’s CeBIT trade show, Sun Microsystems (JAVA) demonstrated a solar Blackbox shipping container hooked to a 700 square foot array of solar panels, which produced about 10 kilowatts of power. That’s barely enough power to support a single rack in a typical high-density configuration in a Blackbox (since renamed the Sun MD).
In addition, the blog points out, solar energy remains far costlier than other means of generating electricity.

That being said, there has been some headway. As I wrote about in my blog last week, the hosting service AISO powers its entire data center via solar power.

Will solar panels be a contributor to electricity for data centers? Certainly. But just don't expect them to be the sole energy provider.