Meta to build 10 natural gas plants for Hyperion AI data center

Meta is funding 10 natural gas power plants in Louisiana to support its $27 billion Hyperion AI data center. Last week, the company announced it would fund seven new natural gas power plants, adding to the three it had already committed to building. Together, these 10 power plants in Louisiana will generate around 7.5 gigawatts of electricity. Gigawatts are a unit of electric power, and this total capacity is expected to support the Hyperion facility, which will draw as much electricity as South Dakota.

The environmental footprint of this energy demand is substantial. According to calculations by TechCrunch, which are based on data from the Department of Energy, the turbines in Louisiana will dump 12.4 million metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere every year. This represents a 50% increase over Meta’s entire carbon footprint in 2024, the most recent year for which data is available. Meta is almost certainly justifying the move internally by viewing natural gas as a “bridge fuel”—a transitional energy source used while renewables, batteries, and nuclear power mature. This decision comes despite Meta’s previous environmental efforts, which include committing to a nuclear power purchase for 20 years.

However, the climate impact of the project is further complicated by emissions from the natural gas supply chain. Methane, the primary component of natural gas, warms the planet 84 times more than carbon dioxide. While even a 0.2% leakage rate along the supply chain can make natural gas more damaging to the climate than coal, the actual methane leakage rate from production and pipelines in the U.S. is closer to 3%. These leaks are not accounted for in Meta’s public sustainability reports, which do not mention methane or natural gas. To maintain its climate pledges, the company may need to rely heavily on carbon removal credits to offset these emissions, which will require a more precise accounting of exactly how much methane leaks into the atmosphere to feed its new power plants.

Why it matters

Meta’s decision to fund 10 natural gas power plants for its Hyperion AI data center contradicts its public climate commitments and will significantly increase its carbon footprint, with energy demands rivaling an entire U.S. state.