Louisiana Data Center News

Jun 24, 2026

Could virtual power plants help power the AI boom?

The New York Times reports a proposed solution to AI-driven grid strain: coordinate millions of residential energy devices (rooftop solar, home batteries, smart thermostats, water heaters) into a collective “virtual power plant.”

Main announcement: The article describes a proposal to use millions of residential devices across millions of homes as a coordinated virtual power plant to store excess solar energy during the day and release it at evening peaks, or to temporarily reduce demand via smart appliances; participants would receive direct payments or bill credits for providing capacity.
Background and implementation details: Companies say they already manage millions of devices, and the approach could support the equivalent of multiple large data centers during peak periods, but it requires cooperation from utilities, grid operators, and regulators and a shift in how distributed household devices are treated in the energy system. (This is a news report by The New York Times, not a primary announcement by a specific company.)

Jun 23, 2026

Landry to regulators: Protect the ratepayers in Entergy’s proposed power plant deal

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has urged the Louisiana Public Service Commission to thoroughly scrutinize Entergy’s proposed acquisition of a Texas power plant tied to Meta’s Hyperion data center before approving cost recovery.

Main action: Gov. Jeff Landry called on the Louisiana Public Service Commission to evaluate whether Entergy’s proposed purchase of a Texas power plant (to help power Meta’s Hyperion data center) provides measurable public value — such as improved reliability, additional generating capacity, or long-term savings — and to ensure protections for ratepayers before costs are added to electric bills.
Background/details: The article notes Entergy’s broader expansion plans include natural gas-fired power plants built to serve the Hyperion project in northeast Louisiana; consumer advocates and some policymakers warn about the mismatch between decades-long plant lifespans and shorter large-customer contracts, which could leave residential and small-business customers exposed to costs if major customers do not renew agreements.

Jun 23, 2026

Revolutionizing Data Center Cooling: Innovations for AI and HPC Growth

Data Center Frontier summarizes multiple vendor announcements on data center cooling focused on chip-level, fluid, system, water, and HVAC-scale solutions.

Main announcement(s): T-Global Technology and SiPearl announced an approved project under Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs “A+ Driving Industrial Innovation with AI” program to develop high thermal conductivity materials and two-phase liquid cooling modules for HPC chips; Johnson Controls released its second AI Factory Reference Design Guide supporting up to 1 GW AI factories (air-cooled chillers), Safe Air Technology completed a major recapitalization by Milton Street Capital and EA Advisors to scale mission-critical HVAC manufacturing, Castrol ON received OCP Inspired recognition for its PG 25 direct liquid cooling fluid (with DC 15 and DC 20 immersion fluids slated for the OCP Marketplace), and Gradiant announced HyperSolved, an end-to-end cooling water solution deployed with several hyperscale operators.
Background and details: The T-Global/SiPearl item is an R&D collaboration linking Taiwan thermal materials and module engineering with SiPearl’s European processor platform; Johnson Controls’ guide integrates YORK centrifugal chillers (YDAM and YVAM) and provides sizing references including a 220-MW compute cluster example and claims such as returning up to 50 MW, 32% annual energy consumption improvement, 20 MW peak power savings, 12 million gallons/day water savings, 30% COP improvement, and 27% fewer chillers; Safe Air’s recapitalization aims to automate production and serve the gigawatt-scale market; Castrol is placing engineered fluids into the OCP Marketplace to ease adoption; Gradiant’s HyperSolved targets sourcing, treatment, reuse, concentration and discharge management for AI data centers.

Jun 18, 2026

How FERC’s Large-Load Interconnection Actions Help Address Grid Stress, Improve Affordability

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a major national policy to speed and reform large-load interconnection following U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright’s directive.

Main announcement:FERC has established a national framework to accelerate large-load interconnection: customers can fund their own network upgrades, offer flexible load, and in some cases proceed with study periods as short as 60 days per Secretary Wright’s directive. The action is presented as a formal policy change and implementation pathway rather than an historical recap.
Details & context: The blog post is a corporate commentary/announcement endorsing the policy and describing industry responses: it cites Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory findings (≈$0.06/kWh reduction correlated with 10% higher state consumption), PG&E forecasts (each new 1 GW of data center load could reduce rates 1–2%), and announces NVIDIA and Emerald AI will begin commercial deployment later this year of flexible AI factories that bring generation and grid-responsive load to the system.

Jun 17, 2026

West Feliciana is getting a $10M advance from Hut 8. Here’s how it will be used

West Feliciana Parish will receive a $10 million advance from Hut 8 on future PILOT payments.

Advance amount: $10 million provided as an advance on Hut 8’s future PILOT payments, with funds intended to put money in the hands of local agencies about a year before annual payments are scheduled to begin.
Context and source: Announcement reported by Business Report about the financing arrangement tied to Hut 8’s facility PILOT obligations; article is behind an INSIDER sign-in and links to the parish profile and original story.

Jun 11, 2026

Meta Announces PPA With RWE for 298-MW Texas Solar Power Project

Meta has announced a long-term corporate PPA with RWE for the 298-MW Rabbit’s Foot Solar project in Bowie County, Texas.

Main announcement: Meta signed a long-term corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) with RWE for the 298-MW Rabbit’s Foot Solar installation in Bowie County, Texas; the project began onsite construction earlier in 2026 and is expected online by year-end 2027, intended to support Meta’s goal of matching its operations with 100% clean energy. This is the fourth PPA between Meta and RWE since 2024 and brings their combined agreements to 872 MW (previous projects: 274-MW Emily Solar, 100-MW Lafitte Solar, 200-MW Waterloo Solar).
Background and implementation details: RWE estimates the project will create approximately 200 local construction jobs and generate long-term tax revenue for local services (schools, technical education programs, emergency services, road maintenance); RWE reports 13 GW of U.S. generation capacity in operation across 27 states and plans to add 9 GW of net new capacity by 2031.

Jun 10, 2026

Roundup: Small business owners / Elevated car prices / Teacher bonuses

Richland Parish School District has distributed unusually large one-time end-of-year “13th checks” to some certified teachers, funded by a surge in local sales tax revenue tied to the Meta data center project.

Main announcement: Some Richland Parish certified staff received nearly $51,000 as full-share, one-time end-of-year ‘13th checks’, with payouts varying by employment status and years of service; the payments were distributed by the school district as an annual one-time payout.
Background/details: The checks are funded by a surge in local sales tax revenue tied to construction and economic activity from the Meta data center project in Richland Parish; the story was reported by KNOE and the bulletin also references related reporting by Inc. and CNBC on separate topics (small business creators and car prices).

Jun 10, 2026

Behind-the-meter data center gas plants will raise US energy bills

Energy Innovation authors Jeffrey Rissman and Eric Gimon argue that data centers building on-site natural-gas power plants will raise energy prices for U.S. households and businesses and that policymakers should require data centers to supply their own clean on-site electricity.

Main announcement/action: The authors call for a “bring your own clean energy” mandate so data centers do not rely on on-site natural-gas plants; they cite concrete capacity examples including a Richland Parish, LA facility using ~2.2 GW, a Cheyenne-area project with a 1.8 GW first phase designed to scale to 10 GW, and a BloombergNEF finding that ~100 GW of on-site gas capacity is planned for U.S. data centers. The piece urges that data centers instead deploy wind/solar + batteries and enhanced geothermal to provide firm, fuel-free power.
Background and supporting details: The article documents that combined-cycle gas turbines are back-ordered 5–7 years, forcing use of inefficient turbines that increase pollution (citing an xAI Clean Air Act lawsuit), and describes policy tools to implement the proposal including “permit-by-rule”, pre-authorized renewable zones (Texas CREZ, Nevada Solar Energy Zones, Arizona Renewable Energy Incentive Districts), and mentions state laws that streamline permitting (Michigan HB 5120, Illinois HB 4412). It also gives examples of companies already using clean on-site supply (Google: 1.6 GW wind+solar with 300 MW battery; Amazon: 1.2 GW solar + equal battery storage).

Jun 9, 2026

Roundup: Fortune 500 / Youth sports boom / Data center tax revenue

Bossier City is considering creating an infrastructure fund tied to a major Amazon-linked data center project.

Main action: Bossier City proposes an infrastructure fund that would use tax revenue generated by an Amazon-linked data center development to pay for roads, water, sewer and other infrastructure improvements, with city leaders saying the plan could reduce the need to borrow money for future projects.
Additional context:Entergy climbed 15 spots to No. 340 on the Fortune 1000; Lumen Technologies ranked No. 354 and Pool Corp. ranked No. 648. Separately, Bloomberg reports on a boom in private youth sports megacomplexes combining fields, hotels, restaurants and entertainment driven by travel-sports spending and tourism demand.

Jun 3, 2026

New Data Center Developments: June 2026

Data Center Knowledge has published a monthly roundup of global data center developments.

Highlights include: CloudBurst breaking ground on a 1.2 GW flagship campus in Central Texas; Nvidia partnering with IREN to deploy up to 5 GW of global AI infrastructure with Texas’ Sweetwater as a flagship site; Prime Data Centers breaking ground on SMF02 (150,000 sq.ft, 18 MW IT load) in Sacramento; Applied Digital planning Delta Forge 1 — $3.6 billion, 300-acre AI campus in Boyce, Louisiana; Hive Digital/Buzz HPC planning an ~320 MW AI facility in the Greater Toronto Area.
Additional concrete items and timelines: SoftBank plans up to €75 billion to develop 5 GW in France (targeting 3.1 GW by 2031); Ardian & Verne’s €5 billion digital campus (500 MW, with 200+ MW by 2030); TotalEnergies’ €100 million Pangea 5 supercomputer investment; Arcem’s Joroinen site delivering 60 MW by 2027 and 100 MW by 2029; CDC Data Centres’ 555 MW contract to be delivered with operations commencing in FY28 and FY29. All items are factual summaries from the article.

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