(The Center Square) – West Feliciana Parish residents could be the beneficiaries of several major infrastructure investments made by Hut 8, the company building a nearly $3 billion data center.
West Feliciana Parish President Kenny Havard says Hut 8 is paying for water-system upgrades and electric infrastructure tied to the company’s planned data center – an arrangement he says is designed to keep costs from landing on Louisiana ratepayers.
In an interview, Havard said the parish and Hut 8 are “working out the details” of getting water service to the project while upgrading the parish’s aging water system at the same time.
Those upgrades, Havard said, could include replacing old pipes, increasing system capacity, and improving water pressure for residents.
“They’re paying for the upgrade,” Havard said, describing the company’s role as funding infrastructure improvements the parish has long struggled to afford as a small, rural community.
Hut 8 plans to build a substation for the facility and the parish has pushed to ensure the project’s electrical upgrades do not get shifted into utility “rate base” costs – the pool of investments utilities recover through customer bills. Utilities “would normally try to put this back on the rate base,” Havard said. The parish has sought to prevent that outcome, he continued.
“Hut 8 has paid for all of their upgrades and power plants,” Harvard said. “It stays off the ratepayers of Louisiana.”
Havard cautioned that future expansion could raise new questions about infrastructure costs if the company grows and requires additional facilities. But he said the parish’s position for the initial buildout is clear: large-load, privately driven projects should fund the system upgrades they require, rather than relying on broader ratepayers to subsidize them.
“Hut has been great to work with,” Havard said, adding that the parish is proud of the structure it negotiated, including what he described as a unique approach to local tax terms compared with other Louisiana projects.
Hut 8’s project is one of several major data-center developments reshaping Louisiana’s infrastructure debate, as state and local leaders weigh how to attract investment while limiting downstream costs for residents – particularly when it comes to utility bills and public systems like water.
Beyond the local infrastructure work, Hut 8’s West Feliciana development represents one of the larger announced construction efforts in the region, with capital spending estimated at $2.8 billion. Project documents break that figure down as roughly $500 million for machinery and equipment, $727 million for buildings and materials, and about $1.6 billion for labor and engineering – a mix that would direct a substantial share of total spending into construction services, specialized engineering, and the local and regional supply chain.
Filings with Louisiana Economic Development describe major purchases tied to the buildout, including a $17 million substation and 190 cooling distribution units with a combined estimated cost of $34 million.
Hut 8 expects to initially create 1,000 temporary construction jobs and 200 full-time operations jobs, with operations scheduled to begin Oct. 1, 2026 and full commissioning expected within six months.
On Wednesday, Hut 8 secured Louisiana’s Quality Jobs incentive, the state’s primary payroll rebate program. Under the program, companies that create and retain new jobs can qualify for a cash rebate worth up to 6% of annual payroll for up to 10 years. Hut 8’s application estimates a 10-year cumulative gross payroll of $183.4 million, producing an estimated $11 million in payroll rebates.
In addition, the filing projects a sizable state sales tax rebate of $42.84 million.
