Louisiana Data Center Intel

Recent Louisiana data center news

• Jan 14, 2026

  Emerging Data Center Markets: Key Locations to Watch in 2026

  Cushman & Wakefield reports that power and land constraints in major U.S. data center hubs are driving operators to consider secondary and tertiary markets.

  • Main announcement: Cushman & Wakefield finds power and land constraints in primary hubs (Northern Virginia, Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, Atlanta, Portland/Eastern Oregon) are shifting site selection toward secondary/tertiary markets; highlights include OpenAI’s Stargate (~$100 billion) and Vantage Frontier (~$25+ billion) as large upcoming projects.
  • Details/background: Regions such as Pennsylvania, the Carolinas, Central Washington, New Jersey, and Massachusetts are offering economic incentives, faster approvals, and flexible regulatory frameworks; Central Washington offers low-cost hydro power enabling 100% renewable operation but is also facing power constraints.
• Jan 13, 2026

  Roundup: Inflation / Entergy / Data center real estate

  Entergy Louisiana has filed for a property tax exemption under Louisiana’s Industrial Tax Exemption Program to support a new natural gas-fired power facility intended to serve Meta’s $10 billion data center in Richland Parish.

  • Main action: Entergy Louisiana filed for an Industrial Tax Exemption Program waiver to remove local property taxes on a new natural gas-fired power facility that would serve Meta’s $10 billion data center in Richland Parish, requesting an estimated $237 million in tax relief over 10 years.
  • Context and additional details: The filing is documented in public records and ties to Meta’s data center project; separately, Digital Realty CEO Andy Power stated “data center real estate is not oversupplied”, and JLL projects sector capacity nearly doubling by 2030 with up to $3 trillion in required investment.
• Jan 12, 2026

  Meta reaches agreement to buy electricity from Beaver Valley nuclear plant to fuel AI data centers

  Meta has reached agreements to purchase nuclear-generated electricity from multiple developers to power its AI operations.

  • Main announcement: Meta agreed with Vistra to buy 2,600 megawatts of electricity from three nuclear plants (including Beaver Valley, Perry, and Davis-Besse) over a 20-year period, which also includes 433 megawatts of increased generation; the Vistra agreement would extend each plant’s license by 20 years and Vistra says the project will take nine years to build and provide ~3,000 project-related jobs.
  • Additional deals and timelines: Meta also signed separate agreements to buy 1,200 megawatts by 2034 from an Oklo project in Pike County, Ohio, and 690 megawatts from TerraPower (site to be identified “in the coming months”); background: the three Vistra plants had been previously slated to close, and Microsoft has entered a similar nuclear restart agreement for Three Mile Island.
• Jan 12, 2026

  Trump’s EPA plans to ignore health affects of air pollution

  The Trump administration’s EPA is proposing to stop counting the value of human health (the value of statistical life) when regulating ground-level ozone and PM2.5 fine particulate pollution, according to a New York Times report.

  • Policy change: The EPA proposal would no longer count the value of human health when performing cost-benefit analyses for regulations on ozone and PM2.5; this change was reported by The New York Times and is described as overturning decades of practice.
  • Context and supporting details: The article cites long-established links between PM2.5/ozone and illnesses (asthma, heart disease, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, dementia, type 2 diabetes, low birth weight) and notes as many as 10 million deaths per year worldwide tied to PM2.5; it also gives a concrete data-centre example — xAI used “dozens of unpermitted natural gas turbines” to power its Colossus data center — and records support for the change from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (quote from Marty Durbin, president of the Chamber’s Global Energy Institute).
• Jan 9, 2026

  Environmental AI Governance: U.S. and China Have Different Roads to developing Green AI Systems

  Jianyin Roachell argues that the United States and China are pursuing divergent approaches to govern AI’s environmental footprint: the U.S. relies on bottom-up, market and state-level measures, while China uses top-down national planning such as EWCRT and mandates for renewable energy in data centers.

  • Main announcement/action: The article contrasts U.S. decentralized, market-driven responses with China’s top-down EWCRT (East-West Computing Resources Transmission) strategy that directs new data centers to western provinces (Sichuan, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia) to leverage cooler climates and abundant wind/solar; China projects data centers could consume 400 TWh annually (~3.2% of electricity) and the NDRC issued guidelines in March 2025 requiring increased renewable electricity shares for big data hubs. The piece cites concrete projects and deals: Meta’s 20-year PPA for a 1.1 GW nuclear plant in Illinois, local proposals for gas-fired plants by Entergy to power Meta, and the $226 million Lin-gang underwater data center project in Shanghai combining renewables and deep-sea cooling.
  • Background and other details: The U.S. relies on state tax exemptions (as many as 42 states) and state-level rules (e.g., Virginia 2024 PUE bill; Oregon 2025 water reporting), plus third-party verification like LEED; grassroots protests and state regulatory drafts (Texas, California, Michigan, Minnesota) are shaping policy. Research cited estimates the East-West Data Project could reduce 11,500 Mt CO2 between 2020 and 2050, but China’s grid remains ~60% coal, posing a continued emissions risk unless renewables scale faster.
• Jan 8, 2026

  Louisiana Signs Seven BEAD Grant Agreements

  Louisiana has signed BEAD grant agreements with seven ISPs, finalizing awards that cover nearly 40,000 BEAD locations and are expected to begin construction imminently.

  • Main announcement: Louisiana’s broadband office signed grant agreements with seven ISPs — AT&T, Brightspeed, Comcast, Nextlink, Direct Communications, Pelican broadband, and SkyRider Communications — covering nearly 40,000 of the state’s roughly 127,000 BEAD locations; projects are expected to break ground “in the coming weeks” and ISPs have four years to complete BEAD projects.
  • Background & details: The awards are part of the $42.45 billion BEAD program; roughly 81% of the state’s BEAD locations are planned for fiber, 8% satellite, 6% fixed wireless, 5% cable; Nextlink will deploy fixed wireless to ~7,500 BEAD locations in Louisiana. NTIA has approved spending plans for 39 states, and states must secure NIST approval (the grants manager) before finalizing contracts. Non-deployment funds are expected to be about $21 billion.
• Jan 6, 2026

  Global Data Centers Poised for an ‘Investment Supercycle,’ JLL Says

  JLL’s 2025 outlook projects global data center capacity will nearly double by 2030, driven primarily by AI demand and power-driven site selection changes.

  • Main announcement/action: JLL forecasts global capacity rising from ~103 GW to 200 GW by 2030, requiring ~$3 trillion over the next five years (including $1.2 trillion in real estate asset value creation and $870 billion in new debt financing); current market fundamentals include ~97% global occupancy and ~77% of construction pipeline pre-committed, with lease rates forecast to grow at ~5% CAGR through 2030.
  • Background and details: AI workloads expected to grow from ~25% (2025) to 50% by 2030 with an inflection around 2027 (inference surpasses training); power constraints are shifting siting to “power opportunistic” locations (e.g., Wisconsin, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, rural Illinois, Pennsylvania), equipment lead times average 33 weeks, grid-connection timelines often >4 years, and financing is maturing (core strategies now ~25% of fundraising) amid an “infrastructure investment supercycle.”
• Jan 6, 2026

  A $1B bet on Louisiana growth puts pressure on power bills

  Entergy will return to the Louisiana Public Service Commission in 2026 seeking approval for another round of billion-dollar transmission proposals to meet rising electricity demand driven by data centers and heavy industry.

  • Project filings and cost details: Entergy has filed for a more than $1 billion project that includes a 145-mile, 500-kilovolt transmission line; roughly 82% of the cost is expected to be borne by ratepayers, potentially raising residential bills by at least $3.47 per month. Entergy is also planning infrastructure to serve a $10 billion data center in West Feliciana Parish expected to require 345 MW, as well as Hyundai’s $6 billion steel mill and other industrial projects (ammonia, battery, aviation-fuel).
  • Regulatory and timing context: Entergy will appear before the Louisiana Public Service Commission in 2026; regulators face pressure to balance economic-development ambitions with protecting consumers, while watchdog groups warn expedited approvals could lock households into decades of higher electric bills. The article is an announcement/coverage piece by The Center Square.
• Jan 6, 2026

  Hyperscalers in 2026: What’s Next for the World’s Largest Data Center Operators?

  Hyperscale cloud operators announced aggressive expansion to meet AI demand, with global hyperscaler capital expenditure projected to exceed $600 billion in 2026. The report highlights capacity growth, project delays, and sustainability challenges tied to power and cooling.

  • Main announcement/action: Hyperscalers (AWS, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Oracle, Alibaba) are expanding aggressively for AI and cloud services; projected capex > $600 billion in 2026, and Data Center Watch reported >36 projects worth $162 billion blocked or delayed as of June 2025. Specific planned investments include AWS Saudi Arabia ($5.3 billion), AWS European Sovereign Cloud in Germany (€7.8 billion through 2040), AWS Chile (>$4 billion), Google $2 billion 10-year Turkey commitment, Meta’s Louisiana Hyperion ($27 billion JV with Blue Owl Capital), and Oracle Stargate I (1.2 GW initial capacity, planning for ~450,000 NVIDIA GB200 GPUs).
  • Background and other details:Microsoft is deploying Fairwater AI campuses (Atlanta operational Oct 2025; Wisconsin expected early 2026) with closed-loop liquid cooling and custom Azure Maia accelerators; Google expanded regions (Sweden, South Africa, Mexico) and is expanding in Kuwait, Malaysia, Thailand; analyst insights from Synergy Research Group, Dell’Oro, and GlobalData note a shift from redundancy to AI-optimized, high-density facilities, tens of gigawatts of additional power demand over the next 2–3 years, and a focus on renewable energy adoption and innovative cooling to address grid pressure.
• Jan 2, 2026

  State Broadband Bills of 2025: A Legislative Review

  State legislatures across the United States enacted and considered broadband-related legislation in 2025; fewer than 140 of more than 600 proposed bills became law.

  • Main actions: States enacted laws prioritizing infrastructure and permitting reforms, pole and rights-of-way access, criminal penalties for theft/vandalism, state broadband funding, and data center incentives. Notable enacted measures include Hawaii H 934 (established a state Broadband Office and programs, enacted in June and backed by $400 million in combined funding), West Virginia SB 907 (expanded the Economic Development Project Fund to allow up to $25 million annually for broadband incentives and up to $125 million annually for broadband loan insurance) and West Virginia HB 2014 (signed in April; created microgrid districts with zoning/permitting exemptions and special property tax treatment for qualifying projects).
  • Additional details and timelines: States also raised criminal penalties (e.g., Oklahoma classified willful damage to a critical infrastructure facility as a Class D3 felony with fines up to $100,000 and prison up to 10 years; Louisiana authorized fines up to $50,000 and prison up to 20 years; California AB 476 increased penalties for knowingly buying illegally obtained scrap metal to $5,000). Other enacted programs include California SB 338 (a $2 million telehealth pilot), New Mexico SB 126 (Rural USF increased from $30 million to $40 million), and Oregon’s device support up to $100 in Lifeline-related assistance. At least 37 states passed data center incentives in 2025 and over 1,000 AI-focused bills were introduced nationwide, with ~38 states adopting or enacting roughly 100 AI measures in 2025.