Data Center Site Selection in Louisiana

Louisiana’s data center market changed in December 2024, when Meta announced a $10 billion AI data center on the state-owned Franklin Farm site in Richland Parish, a 2,250-acre megasite about 30 miles northeast of Monroe.¹⁰ Meta projected 500 or more direct jobs and a construction workforce of about 5,000 at peak.¹⁰ In July 2026, Gov. Jeff Landry announced that Meta would invest $40 billion more to expand the Hyperion campus.¹¹

Other large projects followed. Hut 8 selected Entergy Louisiana to supply an initial 330 MW for an AI data center campus in southeast Louisiana, with total investment of up to $10 billion.¹² In northwest Louisiana, Amazon announced $12 billion of data center campuses in Caddo and Bossier parishes in February 2026, and in August 2026 added a third facility at Resilient Tech Park in Shreveport, bringing the total to $18 billion.⁸⁹

The pattern is large, utility-built supply for a few very large customers, rather than many mid-sized colocation campuses. For a site screen, the first question is which utility’s service territory the parcel sits in, because that decides who builds the generation and how the PSC reviews it. Our guide to ISOs, RTOs and utility territories explains why that matters.

The Richland Parish campus is the reference case for how Louisiana powers a hyperscale load. On August 20, 2025, the PSC voted 4-1 to approve a settlement covering three 754 MW gas-fired combustion turbine plants, 2,262 MW in total, along with a new 500 kV transmission line, a new substation and equipment upgrades. Two of the plants are to be built next to the data center.¹ Commissioner Davante Lewis cast the only no vote.¹

The vote came about two months earlier than originally scheduled, so Meta could move forward.¹ Supporters pointed to the size of the investment. Critics, including consumer and environmental groups, argued the process was rushed and raised questions about rates, water use and air pollution; reporting on the approval noted that Meta will cover the plants’ cost for the first 15 years, after which costs could fall to other ratepayers.⁴

The campus then grew. In March 2026, Entergy asked the PSC to approve seven more gas plants for Meta, which would bring the order to 10 plants and, by Entergy’s count, more than 7 GW of capacity.⁷ The application is tied to a 20-year contract with Evest, LLC, a Meta subsidiary, and reporting put the deal at about $21 billion.⁵ The PSC voted 4-1 in April 2026 to fast-track it; the package also includes about 240 miles of new transmission and nuclear uprates, which Entergy says Meta will pay for.¹³

For other developers, the takeaway is that Entergy Louisiana can and will build dedicated generation for a large customer, but on a long contract, with substantial customer cost responsibility and a public fight. Our guide to on-site generation and bridge power covers the generation choices.

On December 17, 2025, the PSC adopted a directive proposed by Commissioner Jean-Paul Coussan, by a 4-1 vote, that lets utilities serving new large-load customers skip the competitive bidding requirement for new generation that the commission set decades ago.² Reporting refers to it as the Lightning directive or Lightning amendment; it supports Gov. Landry’s Louisiana Lightning Speed Initiative executive order of September 16, 2025.⁶

To qualify, projects must meet standards that include a signed electric service agreement of at least 15 years and a signed letter from the Louisiana Economic Development secretary.⁶ In the first major case, Entergy asked the PSC’s Administrative Hearings Division to compile the record without issuing a formal recommendation from an administrative law judge.⁵ Entergy asked for a final vote on November 18, 2026, while other reporting said a vote was set for December; check the docket for the current schedule.⁵¹³

The directive is contested. The Union of Concerned Scientists argues it can shift costs to other customers because a gas plant does not fully depreciate over a 15-year contract and nothing in the directive requires utility shareholders to share in the costs.¹⁴ Consumer groups also raised the lack of a clear definition of a large-load project and the limited room for stakeholder input.² In 2026, advocates appealed to state court after the PSC let Meta keep withholding information on investment, jobs and electricity load that an administrative law judge had ordered it to disclose.¹⁵ Our guide to large-load tariffs and electric service agreements explains the contract terms that sit underneath these cases.

Amazon’s campuses around Shreveport and Bossier City are served by Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO), not Entergy, so they follow a different supply path. For Amazon’s campuses, Amazon says it will pay 100% of the costs for new energy infrastructure and grid upgrades needed to serve the data centers, and SWEPCO has said it intends to meet the initial load with existing SWEPCO and AEP-owned generation and power purchase agreements with third parties.⁸

Water is part of the deal as well. Amazon says it will invest up to $400 million in public water infrastructure, use only verified surplus water, and cool mostly with outside air, using water mainly in peak summer heat.⁸ For a developer looking at northwest Louisiana, that sets a public expectation: a project that needs municipal water will likely be asked to pay for the system capacity it uses. Our guide to municipal water and sewer capacity covers the questions to ask.

Northwest Louisiana also borders Texas and Arkansas, so a site screen there often compares parcels across state lines. See our Texas guide and the Arkansas guide, and the Mississippi guide for Entergy’s neighboring service area to the east.

Louisiana’s main state incentive for data centers is a sales tax rebate created by HB 827 of the 2024 Regular Session, enacted as Act 730.³ It is a rebate, not a point-of-sale exemption: certified data centers recover state and local sales and use taxes they pay.

The rules around the rebate are tightening. In July 2026, Gov. Landry issued an executive order directing the economic development secretary to create a ratepayer and community protection framework with mandatory conditions that data center developers must meet to qualify for and keep state tax incentives, reportedly including funding the grid upgrades needed to protect utility customers.¹⁶ Confirm current eligibility and any framework conditions with Louisiana Economic Development and a tax advisor. Our sales tax exemptions by state guide compares Louisiana with other states.

1. 01Confirm the serving utility (Entergy Louisiana, SWEPCO or another provider) and ask how it would supply the load and over what timeline.¹⁸
2. 02Decide whether the project can sign a service agreement of 15 years or more and obtain an LED letter, which the Lightning path requires.⁶
3. 03Ask the utility what share of new generation and transmission costs the contract would assign to the customer, and for how long.⁴¹⁴
4. 04Check access to gas pipelines and high-voltage transmission if new generation would be sited on or near the parcel.¹
5. 05Map water supply and expect to fund public water infrastructure if the project relies on it.⁸
6. 06Test Act 730 eligibility against the 50-job and $200 million thresholds and the 2029 investment window.³

Large, flat, dry parcels with nearby transmission and gas are the strongest candidates, but in a state with extensive wetlands and floodplains, buildable acreage should be checked early. Our methodology explains how we screen land, power and water together, and you can get a site reviewed to test a specific Louisiana parcel.