Entergy announced a massive addition to Meta’s Hyperion AI data center project in northeastern Louisiana and said it plans to add seven additional natural gas plants to deliver more than 5 GW to power the site.
The expansion involves a second hyperscale data center, called “Project Evest,” adjacent to the Hyperion data center in Richland Parish and would further entrench Meta’s dependence on gas for its data centers.
Entergy Louisiana filed an application for an electric service agreement March 26, again asking the Louisiana Public Service Commission to approve a 20-year contract for the seven plants on a fast-tracked basis (U-37882).
Combined, the data centers would be supplied by 10 natural gas plants at nearly 7.5 GW. Entergy Louisiana already is building a trio of plants at 2.26 GW for the Richland Parish project: two in the parish and a third near Baton Rouge.
All told, the planned gas plants for the Meta facility would total more than half of Entergy Louisiana’s 12-GW load.
Meta’s investment in the Hyperion facility has grown from the initial $10 billion announced in 2024 to about $27 billion, with Blue Owl Capital fronting most of the funds. (See Earthjustice Says Change to Louisiana Meta Data Center Funding Fishy, Asks PSC to Investigate.)
Entergy Louisiana CEO Phillip May promised the data center campus and its needs would be funded solely by Meta. Entergy claimed that Meta’s expansion would save customers a total of $2.67 billion through 2046.
May and other Entergy officials met with Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell, who represents the district, in his office March 27 to discuss the ballooning plans. Campbell told a USA TODAY affiliate that he supports the project “1,000%” and is confident the expansion will benefit ratepayers.
The Richland Parish data center “serves as a symbol of the ambition and scale of next-generation AI infrastructure,” Meta Vice President Rachel Peterson said in Entergy Louisiana’s news release.
Peterson said Meta has been “working closely with Entergy since early on-site planning to ensure our power needs are met and, importantly, so that Entergy’s other consumers aren’t paying our costs.”
In early March, Meta was one of seven major technology companies to sign on to the White House’s “Ratepayer Protection Pledge” to ensure data centers don’t raise electricity costs for American households.
Entergy’s plants would feature technological capabilities for future carbon capture and hydrogen co-firing. The utility said the generation would require about 240 miles of new 500-kV transmission lines connecting southern Louisiana to northern Louisiana and Arkansas.
Entergy also said Meta would fund up to 2.5 GW of new renewable energy, an unspecified amount of battery storage in three locations and power uprates in the utility’s existing fleet. Per Entergy, the agreement includes a “memorandum of understanding to explore the future development and use of nuclear power.”
Entergy said Meta would contribute $260 million to programs for low-income residential customers.
Louisiana’s primary consumer advocate group for utility customers met the news with unease.
Logan Burke, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, called the expansion “an unprecedented ask.”
“We’re talking about 10 new gas power plants and over $16 billion in new fossil fuel infrastructure. That’s a nearly 70% increase in Entergy Louisiana’s total gas capacity, adding to the already heavy dependence on the fuel, at a time when market analysts expect price volatility to continue,” Burke said in a March 31 press release.
Alaina DiLaura, a policy coordinator for the alliance, questioned the more than $2 billion benefit claim. She said it’s not clear how the PSC, should it act on an expedited basis, can “allow for the scrutiny necessary to verify those benefits and the supposed ratepayer protections.”
The alliance said the fleet of gas plants would drive a “huge increase in CO2 emissions,” at almost 26 million metric tons/year. The nonprofit drew attention to local reporting that Richland Parish residents already have been subjected to power outages and brown water coming out of taps while the Hyperion facility and first round of gas plants are built.
Meta aims to achieve net-zero emissions across its entire “value chain” within the next four years.
“Meta’s proposed expansion and Entergy Louisiana’s new application demands a full transparent review and an opportunity for the community to weigh in,” the Alliance for Affordable Energy said.
