Meta is stepping into the energy business — at least in Louisiana

Meta $META has agreed to finance a new set of power generation and transmission projects in Louisiana for its data center under construction in Richland Parish, with Entergy $ETR Louisiana estimating about $2 billion in relief for ratepayers over the next two decades.

According to Entergy, Meta will fund grid-scale battery storage at three sites, about 240 miles of high-voltage transmission infrastructure spanning from southern to northern Louisiana and into Arkansas, and seven combined-cycle natural gas plants with total output exceeding 5,200 megawatts. The infrastructure plan also calls for Meta to help co-finance as much as 2,500 megawatts of solar generation; separately, the two companies signed a memorandum of understanding to explore potential nuclear power development.

Entergy said the deal is designed to prevent Meta from shifting its power costs onto existing utility customers. When added to an earlier accord, both arrangements are forecast to produce about $2.65 billion in combined benefits for Entergy's customer base, the utility said.

Meta will also direct $120 million — with matching contributions included — toward Entergy's low-income assistance program and put an additional $140 million into efficiency upgrades for customers with limited means, Entergy said.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Richland Parish campus — priced at $27 billion — is the most expansive data center Meta has ever built, with room to eventually reach five gigawatts of capacity. Zuckerberg has said the project's footprint would rival a substantial stretch of Manhattan.

The new deal arrives as data center operators face mounting pressure to pay for their own energy needs. The Journal reported that at a White House gathering earlier this month, seven tech companies — among them Meta, Microsoft $MSFT, Google $GOOGL, Amazon $AMZN, Oracle $ORCL, OpenAI, and Elon Musk's xAI — committed to self-funding their facilities' power expenses and directing investment toward the regions where those facilities are located. The Journal reported that industry analysts found the pledges vague on specifics and unaccompanied by any clear accountability measures.

Regulatory sign-off from the Louisiana Public Service Commission is still required, Entergy said. If approved, the filing would be the first to proceed under the PSC's Lightning Amendment — a rule the commission recently adopted for large-scale economic development projects.