Facebook parent Meta is planning an artificial intelligence data center in north Louisiana, a multi-billion-dollar project that would bring as many as 500 permanent jobs and serve as an endorsement of Louisiana as a home of major technology infrastructure if it is able to win regulatory approval.
An application to state regulators for a new power plant to support the project says that an unnamed company wants to build “a large and economically transformative facility” in the community of Holly Ridge 80 miles east of Monroe.
In recent days, economic development officials and regulators have said publicly that the project is a data center, and is expected to involve an investment in the billions of dollars. Two sources familiar with the project who weren’t authorized to speak publicly say the company is Meta.
Data centers — airport-sized buildings filled with computer servers and other IT infrastructure — are a critical part of the AI boom that is rapidly transforming the global tech industry.
Companies like Meta, Amazon and Microsoft are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to construct these processing hubs across the U.S. and overseas. Nothing of the scale of the Meta project has been proposed before in Louisiana, and state economic development officials, armed with a new tax credit to lure these projects, see them as way to lure high-paying jobs.
The project would also represent an economic development coup for Gov. Jeff Landry, a conservative Republican who is working to lower corporate tax rates and take on other business-friendly initiatives.
Meta did not respond to a request for comment on their role in the project.
“We’re a job jobs jobs administration, so we’re happy to see big projects,” Stephen Swiber the resilience officer for Landry said.
The project is expected to employ 300 to 500 people with an average salary of $82,000, according to filings to the Public Service Commission from Entergy. The PSC is being asked to approve three new natural gas power plants and other generation updates from Entergy, at a cost of $3.2 billion, that would be used to power the facility.
During a panel discussion Thursday at the Tulane Energy Forum, PSC Commissioner Eric Skrmetta said the data center could be up and running with accompanying power plants within three years. In addition, he said that there are three other AI data centers in various phases of planning in Central Louisiana.
Technology companies are increasingly drawn to Louisiana because of the state’s low electricity rates and amenable regulatory process, Skrmetta said.
“We are moving them through the process quickly,” said Skrmetta. “They’re finding a lot of impediments in other states that are keeping them from moving forward.”
The PSC will hear Entergy’s proposal on Wednesday and decide whether to hire a private consultant and a law firm to review the utility’s application. Entergy is requesting the commission to evaluate the proposal in ten months, and the project is expected to face opposition.
A handful of groups have requested to intervene in Entergy’s power plant proposal, including the Sierra Club and the Southern Renewable Energy Association.
They’re raising concerns over the data center’s reliance on fossil fuels, high water demand and how ratepayers could be affected by Entergy’s proposal. The organizations are also worried about rushing the regulatory process for such a high-stakes project.
“They’re asking a whole lot and not giving time for people to take a position,” Logan Burke, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, said.
Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate reporter Liz Swaine contributed to this report.
