Meta made the request to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission through its newly formed subsidiary Atem Energy
In sum – what to know:
Meta enters wholesale power market – Atem Energy has applied to FERC to sell energy and capacity, aiming to secure supply and flexibility for Meta’s expanding U.S. data centers.
Louisiana AI data center drives demand – The 2 GW+ facility, powered by Entergy’s 2.26 GW gas turbines, underscores the scale of Meta’s AI infrastructure needs.
Nuclear options under review – Meta is also exploring 1.4 GW of nuclear power to meet long-term sustainability and capacity requirements.
Meta, through its newly formed subsidiary Atem Energy, has submitted an application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) seeking approval to sell wholesale electricity in the United States.
The request, filed last week, asks for authorization to participate in energy markets by November 16. If approved, Atem Energy would be in a position to operate as a power marketer, allowing Meta to secure large-scale energy commitments for its data centers and sell unused capacity.
The filing seeks permission to sell energy, capacity, and ancillary services. If Atem intends to operate in competitive markets such as the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) — where Meta is developing a major Louisiana data center — it would need to apply for membership.
Atem Energy, wholly owned by Meta and created earlier this year, was established with the aim of managing energy sales tied to the Meta’s growing data center footprint.
The move reflects surging electricity demand from AI infrastructure. Meta’s Louisiana facility is expected to exceed 2 GW of capacity, powered by three combined-cycle gas turbines totaling 2.26 GW, built and run by utility Entergy.
Separately, Meta last year launched a request for proposals to identify nuclear developers capable of providing 1.4 GW of new nuclear generation to support its U.S. operations.
In June, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) had raised its projections for electricity consumption in the country, citing a spike in power demand from commercial sectors—especially data centers—as a key driver. In its latest update of the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the EIA said it expects total U.S. electricity demand to rise from 4,097 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) last year to 4,193bn kWh in 2025, and 4,283bn kWh in 2026.
The forecast marks a significant upward revision compared to earlier forecasts, which had anticipated more modest growth. The report says that a major contributor to the revised outlook is the expansion of data centers, particularly those supporting artificial intelligence (AI) workloads. “The revisions are most notable in the commercial sector, where data centers are an expanding source of demand,” the report states.
AI data centers are the backbone of modern machine learning and computational advancements. However, one of the biggest challenges these AI data centers face is the enormous power consumption they require. Unlike traditional data centers, which primarily handle storage and processing for standard enterprise applications, AI data centers must support intensive workloads such as deep learning, large-scale data analytics as well as real-time decision-making.
AI workloads, especially deep learning and generative AI models, require massive computational power. Training models such as GPT-4 or Google’s Gemini involves processing trillions of parameters, which requires thousands of high-performance GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) or TPUs (Tensor Processing Units). These specialized processors consume a lot more power than traditional CPUs.
