Entergy Louisiana broke ground Monday on two new power generation facilities in north Louisiana aimed at supporting new economic development in the region, including Meta’s hypserscale data center project in Richland Parish, as well as strengthening grid reliability.
The two new combined-cycle combustion turbine generation facilities will be built on the 2,250-acre state-owned Franklin Farms site 30 miles northeast of Monroe, the same site that will be home to Meta’s data center.
Together, the two facilities will make up what’s being called the Franklin Farms Power Station and will add about 1,500 megawatts of natural gas generation capacity.
“The project underscores Entergy Louisiana’s commitment to delivering clean, efficient and dependable energy solutions for the state’s communities, industries and digital future,” a statement from Entergy Louisiana reads.
News of Monday’s groundbreaking comes on the heels of last month’s announcement that Entergy Louisiana had signed a 20-year natural gas transportation agreement with Energy Transfer, a deal also aimed at supporting Meta’s data center. The natural gas supplied through that agreement will help fuel Entergy Louisiana’s Franklin Farms facilities.
A precise project timeline has yet to be announced.
While Meta’s data center initially had a price tag of $10 billion, President Donald Trump in August claimed the cost could soar as high as $50 billion. The facility’s footprint will purportedly be large enough to cover most of Manhattan.
