Meta officially confirmed on Feb. 11 the company plans to build a massive 1,500-acre data center campus in Lebanon, highlighting the 300 permanent jobs the site will create as well as the company’s commitment to pay for necessary energy and electric grid upgrades.
The $10 billion project is the latest data center to break ground in central Indiana and is the largest data center under construction in Indiana by acreage. The center will create 300 permanent and 4,000 construction jobs as it gets built, company officials said.
Meta’s pledges come as data centers catch heat across the state and country, driving a wedge between big tech companies hoping to capitalize on the rise of artificial intelligence and everyday residents who fear the developments coming to their neighborhoods.
As questions swirl about the project’s plans to rely in part on water from Eagle Creek, Meta officials also announced Wednesday that the center will require less water than previously reported, though the exact amount of water needed is still unknown. In Indianapolis, where utilities are expected to pull 25 million gallons of water a day, local residents have expressed concerns about wastewater being shipped back to their community.
At a press conference with Meta on Feb. 11, Gov. Mike Braun downplayed the many environmental concerns that many Indiana residents and environmental advocates have voiced about the so-called LEAP district, which stands for Limitless Exploration Advanced Pace, and other data centers.
“It will use not near as much water as what everyone said it would because it’s going to recycle it,” Braun said. “The narrative out there has been misconstrued.”
Though news outlets, including the IndyStar, reported last year that Meta was the company behind the sprawling project in the LEAP District, Meta had not publicly confirmed involvement. Last fall, the site, dubbed Project Domino in city documents, passed through the city planning commission without a hitch, giving Meta the green light to start construction.
Meta executives said the company wanted to ensure all the details of the data center were finalized before formally announcing the company’s involvement in Lebanon.
“We wanted to make sure we had all of the agreements fleshed out,” said Rachel Peterson, Meta vice president of data center strategy. “Often times, if we are out too early before we’re ready, it creates a lot of noise in the community, just kind of hinders our ability to execute really quickly.”
Meta will pay for 100% of its energy needs, including any upgrades or infrastructure needed to power the site, Peterson said. In addition, Meta will use a closed-loop system, which will recirculate water, decreasing the total amount the site will use, Peterson said.
“This means for the majority of the year, we’re going to actually use zero water,” Peterson told reporters. “So we are minimizing water usage as much as possible and for the water we do use, we’re committed to restoring 100% of that here, hopefully, in the watershed.”
However, the data center will need to draw a certain amount of water to start operating. Peterson said she did not have the exact number of gallons that would be and did not specify from where Meta would acquire that water.
The water question is top of mind for residents of Lebanon, which currently does not have the wherewithal to supply all of the need resources to the water-intensive district. Citizens Energy Group said it plans to supply the site with 25 million gallons of water a day from Central Indiana water sources, such as the Eagle Creek Reservoir, sparking concern contaminated water could be shipped back to Indianapolis.
Meta joins Eli Lilly, which is building a medicine foundry, as one of the early benefactors of the heavy industrial district under construction just off I-65, about midway between Indianapolis and Lafayette. State officials hope the district, a collection of 26 lots, will become an advanced tech corridor. Within the LEAP district, there’s also land earmarked for mixed-use development that will include single-family homes and apartments.
The Lebanon site is expected to be operational in 2027 or early 2028. Meta is building a second data center in Jeffersonville, Indiana, scheduled to open in 2026.
Alysa Guffey writes business, health and development stories for IndyStar. Have a story tip? Contact her at amguffey@usatodayco.com or on X: @AlysaGuffeyNews.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Meta pledges responsible water, energy use at $10B Lebanon data center
Reporting by Alysa Guffey, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
