Meta Platforms Inc. is paying for the construction of seven new natural gas-fired plants to fuel its most power-hungry data center, increasing its reliance on fossil fuels amid a fast-moving artificial intelligence race.
The company reached a new agreement with Entergy Corp. to build and pay for enough gas plants to provide a total of 5.2 gigawatts of electricity to a data center it’s developing in rural Louisiana, the utility’s local subsidiary said in a statement on Friday.
Dubbed Hyperion, the data center in Richland Parish will be Meta’s largest. To support the site’s expansion, Entergy Louisiana said that Meta would pay for a comprehensive build-out of seven gas plants. Meta will also pay for 240 miles of transmission lines connecting South Louisiana to North Louisiana and Arkansas, battery energy storage and nuclear power uprates, the statement said.
The announcement comes as pressure from customers and consumer advocates mounts on technology companies to cover rising energy costs tied to the AI infrastructure boom. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump demanded companies pledge to pay for their own electricity, ensuring power bills don’t rise.
Entergy said that the deal with Meta was “structured to ensure Meta pays its full cost of service,” and that the agreement would deliver more than $2 billion in customer savings over 20 years. Meta declined to comment on how much it would spend on the new gas plants and other infrastructure related to the Hyperion project, or if the latest agreement would affect its climate commitments.
“Entergy’s filing for new energy generation represents one of several factors needed to move an expansion of this project forward, demonstrates the business-friendly environment in Louisiana that makes projects like this possible and aligns with the principles in the recently signed White House Ratepayer Protection Plans,” Rachel Peterson, Meta’s vice president of data centers, said in a statement.
Last year, Entergy received approval to build three natural gas plants that will generate about 2.3 gigawatts of electricity for Meta’s data center in Louisiana. The utility also applied to connect even more gas generation to the power grid in Louisiana to meet increasing demand.
Copyright 2026 Bloomberg.
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