Entergy (NYSE:ETR) said Wednesday the Louisiana Public Service Commission approved its plan to build three new combined cycle combustion turbine generation facilities to power Meta’s (NASDAQ:META) new data center in the rural northeast part of the state.
Two of the facilities will be located in Richland Parish and are expected to come online in late 2028, and the third facility will be built at Entergy Louisiana’s (NYSE:ETR) existing Waterford site in St. Charles Parish, with an expected operational date by the end of 2029.
The utility also plans to build new transmission lines to serve the facility and procure as much as 1.5 GW of solar resources.
Top Louisiana officials including Governor Landry have welcomed Meta’s (NASDAQ:META) $10B Richland Parish project as an economic development gamechanger, but the plans also have attracted criticism over the data center’s huge energy needs.