District 5 Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell has been a vocal and early proponent of the $10 Billion Richland Parish Data Center in his region of North Louisiana. This week he became one of the four commissioners who voted yes for Entergy Louisiana’s plans.
Campbell is one of the many project supporters who say this data center can generate future economic development. As Louisiana Public Radio reports, Campbell added, “ North Louisiana is a poor part of the state. For 50 years, I've been pulling for jobs in North Louisiana, and I'm really excited today to see that we're seeing some progress, and I think it's really gonna happen.”
The data center will require 2.3 GW of energy. To meet that massive need, Entergy Louisiana will build three new gas-fired power plants and new transmission infrastructure. The deal with Meta–the company behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp–will fund most of the costs for 15 years, including 100% of power plant expenses, though not the transmission line, but after that ratepayers could see their bills go up.
But critics worry about potential rate increases, environmental impacts and the grid’s reliability. Aja Bradford Rosenberg, for example, asked commissioners on Wednesday how the facility will impact water. “We know data centers use millions of gallons of water a day, and I wonder and worry about how we're gonna be compromising either Rayville or Delhi. Or Holly Ridge's water system.”
Larry Hand, vice president of regulatory and public affairs at Entergy Louisiana, said the plan includes a number of protections for customers. Davante Lewis, the only commissioner to vote against the project, said he can’t say with certainty that this deal serves the public interest.
