The Louisiana Public Service has taken the first steps to consider Entergy’s request to power a proposed $5 billion artificial intelligence data center in northern Louisiana with $3.2 billion in mostly natural gas generation.  

Louisiana commissioners at their Nov. 20 meeting voted unanimously to hire familiar firms Stone Pigman and the Sisung Group’s United Professionals Co. to review Entergy Louisiana’s application (U-37425), which could spell a possible 25% increase in its generation, according to commissioners. 

Though Entergy continues not to name the customer, multiple news outlets reported that Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell confirmed outside of the meeting that Facebook parent Meta seeks to raise an AI data center in Richland Parish. Meta currently does not list a Louisiana-based data center among its plans. 

According to its filing made earlier in November, Entergy plans to build three new combined cycle natural gas generators at a combined 2.26 GW, a new 500-kV transmission line and substation, and other upgrades to host the unnamed large customer. Entergy seeks cost recovery and rate-making treatment for the project, as well as a corporate sustainability rider, where the customer would commit to funding 1.5 GW of new solar or solar and storage hybrid generation. Entergy also requests an exemption from an RFP competitive solicitation process and a ruling from the commission by October 2025. 

In a statement to RTO Insider, Entergy again declined to identify the customer, with spokesperson Neal Kirby saying the utility is “not able to identify the type or scope of the customer until the customer is ready to disclose their plans.”  

Entergy said in its filing that it expects the data center “has the potential to transform the economic landscape” of northern Louisiana and “employ directly 300 to 500 employees with an average salary of $82,000, in a region of the state that has long struggled with a lack of economic development and high levels of poverty.”  

Richland Parish’s approximately 20,000 residents have an average $25,285 per capita income, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.  

“This is the best news that we’ve had in north Louisiana in a long, long time. So, I’m for it 1,000%. We need it more than anybody. This data center would be a godsend for northeast Louisiana,” Campbell said at the meeting, adding that the data center could represent an investment of anywhere from $5 billion to $10 billion. 

Campbell said he thought the facility is all but a given and added that a lot of people “will have good-paying jobs.” 

The Louisiana PSC allowed consulting firm United Professionals a maximum of $675,000 and law firm Stone Pigman a maximum of $788,000 to evaluate Entergy’s request. 

“This is a very expansive docket that may require, depending on what happens with intervenors and whatnot, very extensive legal work and legal services. We’re talking about the approval, certification of five different resources, including three generating resources, one high-voltage transmission line and upgrades of a transmission substation. So, it’s all rolled into one proceeding that needs to be handled on an expedited basis. The customer here has expressed a need to get this done quickly, to get this data center to market very quickly,” Stone Pigman attorney Dana Shelton explained to the commission. She added that she anticipated hearings in the docket.  

Commissioner Davante Lewis said that while the commission is on “an [expedited] timeline,” he urged the law firm to make sure “every intervenor is heard” and asked for a “thorough review.”  

“There are a lot of complicated issues that should be worked out that could be beneficial, especially when we’re talking about the generation capacity, the water consumption,” Lewis said. “These are long-term commitments; these are big projects.”  

Shelton said while she was “encouraged by the package Entergy has put on the table,” her firm would make sure “unwarranted costs are not visited on our residential ratepayers.” 

Longtime PSC consultant Lane Sisung, of United Professionals, told commissioners his evaluation will be complex because it involves not one but three generators, associated transmission and “future rate mechanisms to allow a single customer access to renewable portfolios.”  

“It has many elements to it that aren’t normally within a bid,” Sisung said, adding that the consulting firm also would monitor Entergy’s construction and conduct a prudence review.  

Entergy did not respond to RTO Insider’s request for comment on how the three new gas plants could fit into Meta’s zero-carbon target coming due within six years. Meta has a goal to reach net zero emissions across its “value chain,” which extends beyond its data centers to its suppliers, sometime in 2030. Kirby said Entergy is committed to its own net zero by 2050 emissions goal, but did not address the 20-year mismatch between Entergy’s and Meta’s aims.  

In its filing, Entergy said the unnamed customer has “robust sustainability goals.” The utility added that it explored alternatives but didn’t find any as strong a trio of new gas plants.  

The Alliance for Affordable Energy, the Southern Renewable Energy Association (SREA) and the Union of Concerned Scientists already have petitioned to intervene in the case. SREA’s filing indicates Entergy’s requested exemption from a competitive solicitation for the generation would “unfairly limit competition.”  

During the utility’s most recent earnings call, Entergy CEO Drew Marsh said the new industrial customer — presumably Meta — signed a 15-year electric service agreement with Entergy Louisiana. Marsh at the time also said Entergy was in “active discussions” about carbon capture solutions with customers, refraining from naming any. 

Marsh also mentioned Entergy Louisiana’s front-end engineering and design study to evaluate the technical and financial feasibility of installing carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) at the Lake Charles Power Station. (See Entergy CEO: Nuclear, Carbon Capture in Equation to Handle Industrial Growth.)  

According to Entergy’s application, the large customer “has agreed to pay a capped amount” toward the cost of CCS at the Lake Charles Plant. 

Entergy also said the proposed corporate sustainability rider for the customer could offset “a significant percentage of emissions” from the planned natural gas generators. 

Finally, Entergy noted that the new gas plants would be “30% hydrogen co-firing with the capability of supporting 100% hydrogen firing in the future with upgrades, and all will have the ability to incorporate a CCS component in the future.” The utility said it’s also possible it could offer the plants’ excess supply in the MISO markets, lowering costs for its customers.