Louisiana Data Center Intel

Recent Louisiana data center news

• Nov 4, 2025

  Power, Proximity, Policy: The Legal Landscape of Siting Data Centers Near Natural Gas Resources

  Michelman Robinson partners Warren Koshofer and Seth Leibenstein analyze the legal and regulatory considerations for siting data centers near U.S. natural gas resources.

  • Main announcement/action: The article provides a legal and practical guide on siting data centers adjacent to natural gas infrastructure, noting concrete facts such as data center loads often exceeding 100 megawatts per site and that natural gas supplies more than 40% of U.S. electricity. It identifies regional hubs (Texas/Permian Basin; Appalachian Basin — Marcellus & Utica; Midcontinent/Great Plains; Rockies — DJ and Powder River basins; Gulf South — Louisiana & Mississippi) and highlights relevant regulators like ERCOT and FERC, plus contractual vehicles such as PPAs and gas tolling arrangements.
  • Background and details: The piece outlines regulatory and compliance requirements (Clean Air Act permitting, Section 401 water quality certifications, state environmental reviews), flags evolving ESG and carbon disclosure pressures (SEC proposals, IRA incentives), and lists states considering restrictions on fossil-fueled generation for new data centers (Oregon, Virginia, Illinois). Contact details for the authors are provided: Warren Koshofer (212-730-7700; wkoshofer@mrllp.com) and Seth Leibenstein (212-730-7700; sliebenstein@mrllp.com).
• Nov 4, 2025

  Entergy Louisiana and Energy Transfer Sign Agreement That Supports Reliable, Affordable Energy and Economic Growth in North Louisiana

  Entergy Louisiana and Energy Transfer signed a 20-year firm natural gas transportation agreement.

  • Agreement details: Energy Transfer will provide 250,000 MMBtu per day of firm transportation service beginning February 2028 through January 2048, with Entergy having an option to expand delivery capacity; the project includes constructing a 12-mile lateral on Energy Transfer’s Tiger Pipeline with capacity up to 1 Bcf/d to serve Entergy Louisiana’s combined-cycle combustion turbine facilities and support Meta’s hyperscale data center in Richland Parish.
  • Background and implementation: The natural gas quantity is included in Entergy’s financial plan; Entergy Louisiana supplies electricity to more than 1.1 million customers in 58 parishes and is advancing its Louisiana 100 Plan (including a stated $100 million community investment commitment); Energy Transfer operates approximately 140,000 miles of pipeline across 44 states and will source gas from its network connected to major U.S. producing basins.
• Nov 4, 2025

  Roundup: Meta goes solar / Airport woes / Commercial real estate

  Meta signed a deal to buy 385 megawatts of power from two new Louisiana solar plants to help run its new $10 billion data center and advance its climate goals.

  • Deal details: Meta signed a deal to purchase 385 megawatts of power from two solar plants built by Treaty Oak Clean Energy in Sabine and Morehouse parishes, which will connect into Entergy’s Louisiana grid to help power Meta’s new $10 billion data center.
  • Other items in the roundup:Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned air travel could worsen if air traffic controllers miss another paycheck (controllers missed pay on Oct. 28 and are scheduled to miss another next Tuesday); Moody’s told CNBC that commercial real estate dealmaking in 2025 is stalled, with overall deal value up 5% year-over-year, hotels lagging, and offices and open-air retail seeing renewed buyer interest.
• Sep 22, 2025

  The FDI shake-up: How foreign direct investment today may shape industry and trade tomorrow

  MGI published a report analyzing announced greenfield FDI projects (2015–May 2025) and finds a decisive shift of announced investment toward future-shaping industries such as data centers (AI infrastructure), semiconductors, EVs/batteries, critical minerals, and low-emissions energy.

  • Main finding: The report analyzes roughly 180,000–200,000 announced greenfield FDI projects and shows that since 2022 ~75% of cross-border announcements target future-shaping industries and resources; announced annualized greenfield FDI rose from $1,137 billion (2015–19) to $1,407 billion (2022–May 2025), driven largely by megadeals (>$1 billion) that now account for about half of total announced value. Key sector details: data centers ≈ $170 billion/yr (since 2022; could reach >$370 billion if early-2025 pace continues), semiconductor-related ≈ $115 billion/yr to new fabs, low-emissions energy ≈ $330 billion/yr (three-quarters of energy announcements), and announced hydrogen ≈ $160 billion/yr (high uncertainty; few projects in construction).
  • Background and additional details: The shift is geopolitically patterned—advanced economies increased investments among themselves (US attracted large inflows, boosted by Advanced Asia investors), while announced inflows to China fell by nearly 70% relative to the earlier period. About 200 megadeals annually (≈1% of deals) drive most value; examples and specifics: TSMC accounted for roughly $100 billion of early-2025 US-directed announcements, the Calcasieu Parish LNG project cited at $17.5 billion, and several large EV/battery gigafactories with targeted openings in 2025–2026. The report emphasizes that announcements are not firm commitments (historical realization rates vary), cites 60–80% typical realization, and notes many hydrogen megaprojects have not reached construction.
• Sep 3, 2025

  New Data Center Developments: September 2025

  DataCenterKnowledge published a curated roundup of recent global data center project announcements and large power and financing deals.

  • Key development summary: The roundup details multiple major projects and deals, including Equinix’s new partnerships with Radiant, ULC-Energy, and Stellaria for next-gen nuclear power and expanded solid-oxide fuel cell use with Bloom Energy; Caterpillar agreed with Joule Capital Partners to provide 4 GW of CHP power for a planned Utah campus (target launch sometime next year); Meta’s Hyperion Louisiana campus is expected to consume up to 5 GW; CoreWeave bought a 102-acre campus for $322 million; Vantage revealed plans to invest over $25 billion in a 1.4 GW / 1,200-acre Texas campus; EdgeConneX and Lambda are developing a 30+ MW dual-city AI data center in Chicago and Atlanta; Oracle / Elea / Rio de Janeiro target 1.5 GW by 2027 (expandable to 3.2 GW by 2032) for ‘Rio AI City’.
  • Background and technical/financial details: The article frames projects against record-breaking demand and grid limitations; it notes energy and cooling approaches such as CHP and captured waste heat, solid-oxide fuel cells, high-voltage battery storage, and CDC Australia’s proposed 200 MW campus with a closed-loop zero-water primary cooling system. It also lists financing and deal figures: QTS announcing a $10 billion campus, STACK investing $1.66 billion in Johor, NEXTDC adding A$3.5 billion new debt within A$6.4 billion total facilities, and Keppel raising $4.9 billion this year toward a $150 billion funds target by 2030.
• Aug 21, 2025

  Entergy to Build Three Gas Plants for Meta’s Biggest Data Center

  Entergy Corporation received approval from Louisiana regulators to build three natural gas plants to supply Meta Platforms’ new Hyperion data center.

  • Main announcement: The Louisiana Public Service Commission approved Entergy’s plan to build three natural gas plants (projected to generate about 2.3 GW), construct new transmission lines, and procure up to 1.5 GW of solar to serve Meta’s Hyperion data center — a four million–square–foot facility in Richland Parish that Meta says could consume as much as 5 GW at full capacity. Meta has agreed to pay its share of project costs and says it will add enough clean and renewable energy to the grid to match the data center’s total electricity use.
  • Background and details: The Louisiana Public Service Commission fast-tracked approval after Entergy warned delays could prompt Meta to site the data center in another state (per a Citigroup report). The decision has prompted criticism from the Alliance for Affordable Energy, with executive director Logan Burke stating concerns about higher electricity bills and impacts on water supply.
• Aug 1, 2025

  Scaling bigger, faster, cheaper data centers with smarter designs

  McKinsey has announced a comprehensive analysis and recommendations for scaling data centers to meet the surging demand driven by AI and digital transformation.

  • Global capital expenditures on data center infrastructure are projected to exceed $1.7 trillion by 2030, with the US needing to triple power capacity from 25 GW in 2024 to over 80 GW by 2030.
  • The report identifies key challenges including power supply constraints, cooling technology choices, skilled labor shortages, and supply chain issues, and proposes six focus areas such as scalable reference designs, integrated delivery models, rethinking redundancy, modular construction, cooling technology bets, and collaborative contracting to improve efficiency and reduce costs by up to $250 billion.
• Jul 31, 2025

  We expect rapid electricity demand growth in Texas and the mid-Atlantic

  The U.S. Energy Information Administration has announced forecasts of rapid electricity demand growth in Texas and the mid-Atlantic regions for 2025 and 2026.

  • ERCOT region (Texas and neighboring states) electricity demand expected to grow by 7% in 2025 and 14% in 2026, driven by new data centers and cryptocurrency mining facilities; broader West South Central Census Division sales forecasted to grow 5% in 2025 and 9% in 2026.
  • PJM Interconnection region (13 states including Northern Virginia) electricity sales projected to increase by 3% in 2025 and 4% in 2026, with Northern Virginia noted for the highest concentration of data centers globally; forecasts incorporate monthly projections from ERCOT and PJM.
• Apr 24, 2025

  Duke Energy, GE Vernova Strike Major Gas Turbine Deal to Support Explosive Demand Growth

  Duke Energy has entered a significant partnership with GE Vernova for the supply of up to 11 advanced 7HA gas turbines to support its integrated resource plans (IRPs).

  • Duke Energy aims to meet rising power demand driven by growth in advanced manufacturing, data centers, and population.
  • Industry-wide turbine supply shortages are leading utilities like Duke, NextEra, Entergy, and NRG to secure long-term procurement agreements and investment in manufacturing expansion.
  • GE Vernova is investing $160 million in its Greenville, South Carolina facility to increase production capacity by 25%, part of a $600 million U.S. manufacturing expansion.
  • Duke’s updated resource plans include combined cycle natural gas plants, battery storage, and transmission upgrades to meet 1.5-5% projected annual load growth across its service areas through 2032.

  This partnership reflects a strategic focus on dispatchable natural gas generation amid high demand and supply chain constraints, aiming to accelerate clean energy infrastructure deployment.

• Apr 14, 2025

  The AI infrastructure race hits a political reality check

  The article discusses the growing demand for energy due to the rise of AI-driven data centers in the United States. Entergy has initiated a $10 billion deal to provide power for a new Meta AI data center in Louisiana, despite facing backlash from environmental groups. Communities are questioning the sustainability of such projects as they demand significant land, water, and electricity, leading to concerns about environmental impact. The piece also highlights the tension between tech firms and local utilities regarding energy consumption and infrastructure adequacy.