Entergy signed gas supply deals to run 10 new power plants in Louisiana

Entergy has lined up firm pipeline capacity of 1.325 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, which Chief Executive Drew Marsh told analysts is enough to fuel 10 new combined-cycle power plants in Louisiana. The agreements are with large midstream and pipeline companies and were discussed on the utility’s third-quarter call, which followed an earnings release on Nov. 2. Several of the plants they are meant to feed still await a regulatory vote.

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The gas is the fuel side of a much larger construction plan tied to a single data center campus.

1.325 billion cubic feet a day of firm pipeline capacity

The figures come from Utility Dive’s account of the call. Marsh described firm transportation agreements covering 1.325 billion cubic feet per day and said they also help build new pipeline capacity that benefits industrial customers. Firm transportation means the capacity is reserved, so gas can flow even when the pipeline is busy, which matters for plants expected to run around the clock. The call did not name the pipeline companies, and the quarterly earnings release distributed that day does not mention gas supply in the text read for this article, so the volume rests on Marsh’s remarks alone.

One earlier contract is public. In November 2025, Entergy Louisiana announced a 20-year firm transportation agreement with Energy Transfer, running from February 2028 through January 2048, for an initial 250,000 MMBtu per day with an option to expand. It involves Energy Transfer’s Tiger Pipeline and a new 12-mile lateral capable of up to 1 billion cubic feet per day. Phillip May, president and chief executive of Entergy Louisiana, said agreements like it secure the fuel supply needed for reliable and affordable power. Whether that contract is counted inside the 1.325 billion figure was not stated.

Ten combined-cycle plants: three approved, seven pending

The count of 10 adds two batches. Utility Dive reports Entergy plans to spend about $12.9 billion on seven gas-fired combined-cycle plants totaling 5,278 megawatts, plus a $1.4 billion transmission line and 200 megawatts of battery storage, to serve Meta’s planned Hyperion data center in Richland Parish. The Union of Concerned Scientists notes that these seven would join three gas plants the Louisiana Public Service Commission approved in August 2025, for a total of 10 and about 7.5 gigawatts of capacity.

Approval of the seven is not complete. The commission voted in April to put the application on a fast track, and the Baton Rouge Business Report described that vote as 4-1. Commission staff have since reached a settlement with Entergy on outstanding issues in the contested proceeding, and a final commission vote is expected in December. Utility Dive adds that Meta, doing business as Evest LLC, would pay for 2,500 megawatts of new renewables and storage under a proposed sustainability agreement, and that regulators approved a $1.2 billion, 500-kilovolt transmission project between Babel and Webre in October.

The cost and scale draw scrutiny. The Union of Concerned Scientists says the 10 plants could generate about 7.5 gigawatts, more than six times the peak demand of New Orleans, and its analysis estimates up to $90 billion in public health and climate damages from fossil fuel pollution tied to data center power. Commissioners are also considering skipping a formal recommendation from the administrative law judge and the request-for-proposals process meant to identify the lowest-cost resources, which would mirror the review of the three-plant proposal approved in August 2025.

Entergy’s November 2025 announcement also says the Energy Transfer gas supports Entergy Louisiana’s combined-cycle facilities and Meta’s hyperscale data center in Richland Parish, which ties the pipeline contracts directly to the campus the seven pending plants would serve.

Third-quarter results and the large-load pipeline

Financially, Entergy had a strong quarter. Earnings were $1.98 per share against $1.53 a year earlier, electricity sales reached 43,392 gigawatt-hours, up 5.3%, and the planned capital program stands at about $55 billion through 2030. Marsh said data center interest totals 7 to 12 gigawatts and traditional industrial discussions another 3 to 5 gigawatts, much of it not yet in the base capital plan. He also said Meta’s contribution will help offset infrastructure costs in Louisiana but will not necessarily return rates to flat, as they were in Arkansas under a Google arrangement.

Critics see the speed as the problem. Paul Arbaje, a senior energy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said Entergy is rushing through the regulatory review and evading public scrutiny, and that the commission should slow down to assess the proposal fully. The group’s analysis estimates that data center growth could raise Louisiana’s electricity system costs by $26 billion over 15 years. The December vote will show whether the full complement of 10 plants gets built, and how much of the new gas capacity Entergy needs for them is already reserved.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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