Meta is paying for the construction of seven new natural gas plants to supply its largest data center, massively expanding the fossil fuel infrastructure underpinning its AI buildout. The company reached a new agreement with Entergy Corp. To build the plants, which will provide an additional 5.2 gigawatts of electricity to the Hyperion campus in Richland Parish, Louisiana, Entergy's local subsidiary said Friday, as reported by Bloomberg.
Entergy received approval to build three gas plants last year, which will generate roughly 2.3 gigawatts of electricity for Meta. With the new expansion, Hyperion will be served by a total of 10 natural gas facilities, delivering more than 7 gigawatts. Entergy received regulatory approval for that initial batch of plants in 2025 and subsequently applied to connect additional gas generation to Louisiana's grid to meet rising demand. Still, the seven new plants will need their own sign-off from state regulators before construction can begin.
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The deal is structured so that Meta “pays its full cost of service,” according to Entergy, which projects the agreement will deliver more than $2 billion in customer savings over 20 years. Meta declined to say how much it would spend on the gas plants and associated infrastructure, per Bloomberg. Of Hyperion's total power draw, approximately 5 gigawatts will go to compute workloads, with the remainder powering broader campus operations, a Meta spokesperson said.
All this comes amid a growing political fight over who pays for AI-driven electricity demand. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump demanded that technology companies pledge to cover their own power costs, ensuring residential bills don’t rise as a result of the data center infrastructure boom.
Rachel Peterson, Meta's vice president of data centers, says that the Entergy filing aligns with the so-called Ratepayer Protection Plans proposed by the White House and with Louisiana’s “business-friendly [regulatory] environment.” A Meta spokesperson said that the company remains committed to its climate goals, but didn’t elaborate on how building a total of ten gas plants to feed its AI ambitions fits within them.
The agreement includes a Meta commitment to help fund up to 2.5GW of new renewable energy resources, and the two companies also signed a memorandum of understanding to explore the future development and use of nuclear power.
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