Louisiana power firm Cleco has announced plans to construct a 756MW natural gas power plant to supply Applied Digital’s data center in Rapides Parish, Louisiana.

According to reporting from The Center Square, the plant would provide power to Applied’s planned 430MW data center and would represent the single largest load ever served by the power company. The companies had initially signed a deal to power the data center in May, without specifying the capacity and type of generation asset that would be deployed.

Applied broke ground at the Delta Forge 1 data center in January of this year, with the first phase expected to comprise two 150MW buildings on some 500 acres. Initial operations at Delta Forge 1 are expected to commence in mid-2027.​​

As part of the deal with Cleco, Applied is expected to cover the cost of the power plant, power lines, substations and other infrastructure needed to connect the data center directly to Cleco’s electric grid.

In addition, reports suggest Applied will also cover the full cost of a ten-year power supply agreement, which Cleco claims is required to ensure enough power is available for the data center when it commences operations next year. Under the terms of that deal, Cleco is planning to purchase 370MW of capacity from the Tenaska Frontier Generating Station, a natural gas plant in Texas.

The new plant will serve all of Cleco’s customers, not just Applied, and is expected to operate for approximately 30 years.

“Absent the Customer taking electric service, the revenue requirements associated with this necessary generation investment would have been borne entirely by existing customers,” Cleco regulatory strategy director Austin Finn said in testimony.

Cleco said it estimates the data center will lower costs for existing customers by covering a larger share of storm, grid, and other expenses, while reducing the rate increase expected from the new gas plant.

Applied Digital was founded in 2021 as Applied Blockchain, but is pivoting to developing AI and HPC data centers, and has signed multiple large-scale deals. Its contract portfolio spans five AI Factory campuses, totaling 1.4GW of critical IT load, and approximately 2.15GW of grid-connected utility power.

Applied’s Polaris Forge 1 and 2 hyperscale campuses are located in Ellendale and Harwood, North Dakota. The former is set to be leased to CoreWeave while much of the latter is set to be leased to an unnamed “investment-grade hyperscaler.”

Located on 600 acres in an unnamed northern state, Polaris Forge 3 will offer 300MW of critical IT load to the same US-based, high-investment-grade hyperscaler that previously signed on for capacity at Applied’s Delta Forge 1 campus. Initial operations at Polaris Forge 3 are anticipated to commence in August 2027.

Cleco serves central and south-central Louisiana, supplying power to residential, commercial, industrial, and wholesale customers. It also manages more than 2.6GW of generation capacity and maintains an extensive network of transmission and distribution infrastructure.