An op-ed by Phillip May, president and CEO of Entergy Louisiana: With recent approval by the Louisiana Public Service Commission, Meta will soon join our grid. This allows Entergy Louisiana to build several new transmission and three new modern, efficient generation facilities in a way that not only serves Meta’s future data center but also strengthens reliability and resiliency across our service area and keeps rates low for all of our customers.

Entergy Louisiana has officially broken ground on the Smalling Substation, a major piece of grid infrastructure that will connect Meta’s newest and largest data center, currently under construction in Richland Parish. Funded by Meta in its entirety, the substation will play a central role in delivering electricity to the $10 billion facility, which spans more than 4-million square feet and represents one of the largest private investments in Louisiana history.

For the 17th year in a row, Site Selection magazine has recognized Entergy Corporation as a top utility for driving economic growth in the communities we serve. In 2023, Entergy Mississippi helped secure $171 million in capital investments and create approximately 405 new jobs through announced economic development projects.