Confidential Filings Are Becoming the Standard Path for AI Power

Louisiana is about to decide something bigger than one data center.

• Entergy Louisiana disclosed on 7 October that Meta’s Hyperion campus needs 4,500 megawatts, four times the peak load of New Orleans and about twice the demand of the utility’s other customers in the state.
• The figure had been sitting in a MISO interconnection report since 8 September. It became public only under questioning at a hearing of the Public Service Commission.
• Seven gas units of 453 megawatts each are moving through a fast track that skips market analysis and competitive bidding, with much of the record marked confidential.
• Ten new gas generators will serve the one campus, including three units 150 miles away linked by a proposed 500 kilovolt line.
• The commission is expected to vote later this year. Other states face the same question about who approves a load this size and who pays for the wire.

Why the process matters more than the megawatts is in the full analysis.