Gigawatt Ledger · one-page briefing
Campus profile Under construction
Hyperion
Meta Platforms · Richland Parish, Louisiana
The resource footprint
Modelled averageIn one day, this campus would consume about
26.750-metre swimming pools
Filled with the volume of water consumed by the campus and its electricity supply.
The actual estimate17,622,389 US gallons consumed
Power-plant water may come from a different watershed. This is a volume comparison, not a claim that households lose this water.
If announced plans are fully built · Not operating yet · Annual model spread evenly over time, not a live meter. Site estimates may differ by roughly ±40%.
Comparison sizes & sources
One pool = 50 × 25 × 2 metres = 2.5 million litres (about 660,430 US gallons). Pool depths vary; this is a defined comparison size.
One home-year = 10,791 kWh, the EIA’s 2022 average US residential electricity purchases. This excludes electricity generated at home and is a fixed US benchmark for all sites.
One car-year = 4.6 tonnes CO₂, the EPA’s typical passenger vehicle tailpipe estimate. The campus model is in CO₂e; the comparison expresses approximate climate scale, not equal mixtures of pollutants.
Monthly values are annual totals ÷ 12; daily values are annual totals ÷ 365. Actual demand varies. Comparisons cover the whole campus, including non-AI uses.
Water: see the numbers and sources
This is water used up, mainly through evaporation. Power-generation water may be used in a different watershed.
- Pressure on local water
- Low — a regional measure of demand compared with available water
- Where the water comes from
- Municipal potable supply
- Cooling
- Closed-loop liquid; Meta's standard water-restoration commitment
- Basis
- Modelled from cooling design — WUE 0.20 L/kWh
- Claimed vs observed
- Claimed 548 million gallons a year; observed or registered 8,395 million.
Air: see the numbers and sources
The totals include nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide and fine particles. They cover both this site and the power plants supplying it.
- Health range
- $87.5–251 million a year. Lower bound is EASIUR national mid-range; upper is EPA benefit-per-ton at a ~$12M VSL.
- Statistical deaths
- 20.9 a year at that VSL — a national-average conversion from tons, not a local concentration study.
- Equals
- 2,243,564 cars of NOx
- Where it burns
- MISO South — Louisiana / Miss.
- Generation mix
- Gas 72 · Nuclear 14 · Coal 9
- Diesel backup
- 31 gensets, 77.5 MW standby. Test-hours term: 9.30 t NOx/yr (50 h at 30% load, 8 kg NOx/MWh).
- Air permit
- 96.8 t/yr NOx enforced cap — 3.17 tons under the 100-ton Title V major-source line
- CO₂e
- 6,785 kt/yr — climate, not air quality
The project, approvals and community concerns
- Who asked for it
- Meta — self-build; no external tenant
- Who approved it
- Louisiana Public Service Commission approved three new Entergy combined-cycle gas plants (~2.26 GW) to serve it, over intervenor objection; Richland Parish issued the local permits
- What it serves
- Meta Superintelligence Labs — Llama-class frontier training
- IT capacity
- 0 MW current capacity / 2,000 MW full-build scenario
At ~4 million sq ft it is the largest single data center under construction in the Western Hemisphere. Entergy is building three gas plants specifically for this one customer; the ratepayer-protection terms were the central fight at the LPSC.
Keep this guide handy
32.4200°, -91.5000°
Quote or share these estimates
Gigawatt Ledger (2026). Hyperion: water and air. https://gigawatt-ledger.pages.dev/site/hyperion/. Modelled from disclosed capacity; site-level error ±40%.
Include the estimate’s date, whether it describes current or proposed capacity, and its uncertainty. Get an embeddable card.
Gigawatt Ledger · September 2026. Water and air figures are estimated from public records and disclosed capacity. How we calculate them · Use this in your community.