Meta faces Democratic probe into plans to power a giant data center with gas

Powering the new data center with gas “flies in the face of Meta’s climate commitments,” the letter says. We’re seeing that tussle play out in Richland Parish, Louisiana, where Meta has plans to build its largest data center to date. Entergy proposed building three entirely new gas plants with a total capacity of 2,260 megawatts to support the data center, but it has to get regulatory approval first. Some advocates contend that there hasn’t been enough transparency around Meta’s data center plans to help the public understand the potential impact on the local power grid. There are already forecasts that rapidly growing data center electricity demand could raise electricity bills in the US.