Entergy and Meta: A US$5bn Data Centre Infrastructure Deal

Entergy Louisiana has announced a second agreement with Meta to supply power to the tech giant's hyperscale data centre in Richland Parish, Northeast Louisiana, bringing the total projected customer benefit from both deals to approximately US$2.65bn over 20 years.

The latest agreement adds US$2bn in expected customer savings on top of the US$650m already announced under a prior arrangement. The expanded partnership has triggered one of the most ambitious infrastructure programmes in the region's recent history, with thousands of construction jobs expected between 2026 and 2031.

At its core, the deal is structured to ensure Meta bears the full cost of the new infrastructure it requires, while simultaneously unlocking construction activity that could reshape Louisiana's energy transmission network and generation capacity for decades to come.

Infrastructure scale and construction timeline

The construction commitments represent a substantial undertaking for Louisiana's energy sector. Entergy Louisiana plans to construct seven natural gas-fuelled combined-cycle power plants totalling more than 5,200 MW, designed with provisions for future carbon capture and hydrogen co-firing.

The scale of the transmission infrastructure build-out is equally significant. The company intends to construct approximately 386km of new 500kV transmission lines linking South Louisiana to North Louisiana and Arkansas, alongside battery storage across three sites and nuclear uprates. This transmission network expansion alone represents a major civil engineering project that will require extensive right-of-way acquisition, tower construction and grid integration work.

Meta has also committed to supporting up to 2,500MW of new renewable resources and signed a memorandum of understanding to explore future nuclear development, though the latter remains exploratory at this stage. The data centre itself has the potential to scale to 5GW, which would make it among the largest single power consumers in the US.

Construction economics and workforce implications

The construction activity related to the project is expected to generate thousands of jobs between 2026 and 2031, with permanent roles in engineering, maintenance and support services to follow. The build-out of seven combined-cycle plants, 386 km of high-voltage transmission infrastructure and multiple battery storage facilities will require substantial contractor mobilisation across civil works, electrical construction and specialised energy infrastructure trades.

Both parties have gone to some lengths to address concerns about whether existing customers end up subsidising the infrastructure needs of large commercial tenants.

"Working with our customers, regulators and state leaders, we are making targeted investments that strengthen reliability, support economic development and deliver meaningful benefits to customers – all while keeping energy rates affordable, which aligns perfectly with Meta's Ratepayer Protection Pledge and Entergy's Fair Share Plus pledge," explains Phillip May, the President and CEO of Entergy Louisiana.

Rachel Peterson, Meta's vice president of Data Centres, echoes these sentiments while emphasising the teamwork that has gone into this project thus far.

"We've been working closely with Entergy since early on-site planning to ensure our power needs are met and, importantly, so that Entergy's other consumers aren't paying our costs," she adds.

Beyond the headline savings figure, Meta has committed US$120 m including matching funds to Entergy's The Power to Care programme and US$140 m for energy efficiency initiatives aimed at vulnerable customers.

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Regulatory framework for major builds

The project will be the first filed under Louisiana's newly adopted Lightning Amendment, a framework developed by the Louisiana Public Service Commission specifically to govern large-scale economic development projects while preserving regulatory oversight and customer protections. That framework will be closely watched by other states grappling with how to accommodate surging data centre demand without distorting existing energy markets or burdening residential customers.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry welcomed the announcement, praising both Meta and Entergy for demonstrating that growth in the sector can be achieved while prioritising consumer interests.

"Today, Louisiana once again demonstrates our commitment to capital and job creation," he said in a statement.

"I want to express my gratitude to Mark Zuckerberg, the Meta team and Entergy for showcasing how growth in this field can be achieved while prioritising consumer interests. Their policy has set a precedent that should become the norm, not the exception."

Entergy management is scheduled to discuss the financial implications of the deal on its first-quarter 2026 earnings call on 29 April.