US utility Entergy has said that it has received interest from several large technology companies interested in building data centers in Louisiana.

According to a report from Bloomberg, Entergy Louisiana CEO Phillip May stated that the utility has seen increased interest from data center companies following its deal with Meta to power the company’s largest AI-focused project in the state.

“We’re seeing interest in things as small as 100-plus megawatts all the way up to gigawatt-scale projects,” he said to Bloomberg. The company is engaged with a “fairly robust pipeline of other hyperscalers.” According to the utility, the interest is based on the region's ample land access, a willing government, and reduced hurricane risk compared to the Gulf Coast.

At present, Entergy, which supplies power to customers across Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas, has a data center pipeline of between five to 10GW. According to May, the utility is confident that it can meet the power demands of any interested hyperscaler. “As I like to say, ‘Use all you want, we’ll make more,’” he said.

News that Entergy was set to power Meta’s flagship 2GW “Hyperion” data center in Richland Parish, Louisiana, first broke late last year. The campus is planned for construction on 2,250 acres between the municipalities of Rayville and Delhi, about 30 miles (48.2km) east of Monroe. Renderings of the campus suggest up to nine buildings are being planned, with construction expected to be completed in phases through 2030.

To power the data center, Entergy plans to construct three gas-fired power plants, with a combined capacity of 2.26GW. The utility obtained approval to construct the facilities from the Louisiana Public Service Commission in August.

Two of the units are expected to come online in 2028, with the third facility, built at Entergy Louisiana's existing Waterford site in St. Charles Parish, expected to commence operations in late 2029.

To serve the data center, Entergy will build several new transmission lines, including a $1.2 billion 100-mile 500kV project, slated for completion in December 2026. In addition, the utility will construct two substations, six customer-owned substations, and eight new 230kV transmission lines.

In June, the utility broke ground on the first substation. The Smalling Substation is being constructed in Richland Parish and will be entirely funded by Meta. When completed, it will span 55 acres and connect to high-voltage power lines that bring energy from across the region and deliver it to the Meta site. Meta has offered to offset most of the costs for Entergy's customers, with the company set to pay the full annual revenue for the plants for 15 years.

However, the project has faced opposition, with environmental groups arguing that Entergy did not follow the correct procedure when proposing the new gas-fired plants, which could result in significant costs for ratepayers.

At present, Louisiana is a relatively small data center market. According to Data Center Map, it has 23 operational facilities. However, due to the sector's growth, the state has increasingly positioned itself as a potential hub for large AI-focused facilities.