NEW ORLEANS – An administrative law judge on Aug. 4 rejected Meta Platforms’ latest effort to avoid turning over information about its Hyperion data center in Richland Parish.
Meta has been ordered to provide evidence supporting three key projections for the project: how much the company expects to invest, how many permanent jobs it expects to create and how much electricity the data center will need. Meta challenged that order, arguing that the information was not necessary to the regulatory proceeding and could include proprietary business information.
The Aug. 4 ruling leaves the disclosure requirement in place as the Louisiana Public Service Commission considers Entergy Louisiana’s proposal to build seven additional natural gas power plants totaling about 5.3 gigawatts of generation to serve the expanding data center campus.
Meta announced Hyperion in December 2024 as a $10 billion project but now expects to invest more than $50 billion in a nearly 10 million-square-foot campus with 5 gigawatts of computing capacity. The company says the expanded project will create 1,000 permanent jobs.
Entergy’s broader infrastructure plan includes the seven gas plants, about 240 miles of new high-voltage transmission lines and battery storage, along with other generation resources intended to meet Meta’s power needs and support the wider grid.
Combined with three gas plants approved last year, the seven proposed plants would bring the total planned for Meta’s data center development to 10, with about 7.5 gigawatts of generating capacity. The Alliance for Affordable Energy has estimated that amount of power at nearly seven times New Orleans’ peak demand during the summer.
Fight Over Meta’s Disclosures
The dispute began July 10, when Chief Administrative Law Judge Melanie Verzwyvelt granted a request from the Alliance for Affordable Energy and the Union of Concerned Scientists, represented by Earthjustice, to subpoena information from Meta about the project.
In that ruling, Verzwyvelt determined that information about Meta’s projected job creation was relevant to the commission’s consideration of whether Entergy’s proposal is in the public interest. She also found that information about the data center’s expected electricity consumption could help regulators determine whether Entergy’s plans for more than 5 gigawatts of additional generation are supported by Meta’s actual projected power needs.
Entergy Louisiana and LPSC staff had opposed the request to subpoena the information.
In her Aug. 4 ruling, Verzwyvelt found that Entergy does not have the underlying data supporting Meta’s projected electricity needs, even though those projections are being used to determine how much new power generation is needed to serve the project.
The judge also found that Meta had not provided sufficient evidence to establish that responsive documents contained protected trade secrets, noting that LPSC rules and an existing confidentiality agreement provide mechanisms for protecting confidential information.
Meta has separately asked the full Public Service Commission to review the July 10 subpoena ruling. Verzwyvelt declined to reconsider her decision on July 31 and forwarded Meta’s request to the commission, which could consider the matter at its Aug. 12 meeting.
Earthjustice, the Alliance for Affordable Energy and the Union of Concerned Scientists argue that access to Meta’s underlying projections is necessary to evaluate the financial risks of the proposed power buildout, including whether costs could eventually fall to other Entergy Louisiana customers if Meta’s investment or electricity demand differs from current projections.
“We’re grateful the judge recognized what was at stake here: the public’s right to know the facts before billions of dollars in costs and risks are locked in,” said Logan Burke, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy. “Meta doesn’t get to decide for itself what information the public deserves to see.”
Entergy has said Meta will pay the full cost of serving the data center and projects its agreements with the company will provide about $2.65 billion in benefits to other Entergy Louisiana customers over 20 years. Entergy says payments from Meta would help cover fixed costs, including resilience and storm-related investments, that otherwise would be paid by existing customers.
Expert testimony filed July 31 on behalf of groups challenging the proposal disputes those projections, arguing that a deviation of 3.5% from Entergy’s assumptions would eliminate the anticipated benefits.
Entergy is expected to respond to testimony challenging its proposal later in August, with a formal LPSC hearing on the evidence expected in October.
