Meta has agreed to fund seven new natural gas power plants and extensive energy infrastructure to support its largest data center under construction in Richland Parish, Louisiana. The deal with Entergy Louisiana includes 240 miles of transmission lines and battery storage, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. This follows a non-binding pledge by tech companies to cover power costs for AI data centers.
Meta is financing critical energy infrastructure for its $27 billion, 4-million-square-foot data center in Richland Parish, Louisiana, which will be the company's biggest yet and is currently under construction. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Friday, Meta struck a deal with Entergy Louisiana to fund seven new natural gas power plants with a combined capacity of 5,200 megawatts, 240 miles of 500-kilovolt transmission lines, and battery energy storage at three locations. The agreement also covers up to 2,500 megawatts of new renewable resources and includes a memorandum of understanding for future nuclear power development. Meta will essentially cover the power costs for the project. This arrangement comes after tech companies, including Meta, made a non-binding pledge to protect local communities from rising electricity bills caused by power-hungry AI data centers. The pledge commits firms to 'build, bring or buy the new generation resources and electricity needed to satisfy their new energy demands, paying the full cost of those resources,' though it lacks enforcement mechanisms. The move addresses growing concerns from local residents over the environmental impact and energy demands of such facilities. A December poll showed 60 percent of Americans, across political lines, favoring more regulation of AI. Just this week, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced legislation calling for a moratorium on data center construction until regulations are in place.
