Meta Funds Seven Gas Plants to Power Biggest Data Center

Meta Platforms Inc. is paying for the construction of seven new natural gas-fired plants to fuel its most power-hungry data center, increasing its reliance on fossil fuels amid a fast-moving artificial intelligence race.

The company reached a new agreement with Entergy Corp. to build and pay for enough gas plants to provide a total of 5.2 gigawatts of electricity to a data center it’s developing in rural Louisiana, the utility’s local subsidiary said in a statement on Friday. That’s in addition to three gas plants already approved to power the facility, bringing the total number of plants to ten, aiming to provide more than 7 gigawatts of power, according to Entergy.