Hut 8 is putting about $16 million into a dedicated closed-loop water system for its River Bend AI data center campus in West Feliciana Parish, a big-ticket utility build that local officials say is designed to keep residents’ taps running strong even in an emergency. The plan calls for a new well, roughly eight miles of pipeline and a separate fire-protection line, all tied to the campus but engineered so that neighborhood water pressure is not siphoned off when it matters most. Parish leaders say the system will be turned over to the parish at no cost once construction wraps, and that the closed-loop design was a key reason the project won local backing. Officials expect the work to be completed later this year.
What the $16M will cover
According to PR Newswire, the $16 million commitment will pay for a new water well, about eight miles of water main and “other system enhancements” that Hut 8 has agreed to transfer to the parish at no cost to taxpayers once the work is finished. The company says the River Bend campus will rely on a closed-loop cooling system that sharply cuts ongoing water use and draws from sources outside the residential aquifer. On its project page, Hut 8 describes River Bend as a power-first AI campus that can ultimately scale beyond 1 gigawatt of utility capacity and includes early commercialization details along with job projections.
Tax deal and local revenue
Local officials say the River Bend build is expected to use a Payment-In-Lieu-Of-Taxes, or PILOT, structure that offers property tax reductions if Hut 8 meets its investment targets, according to New Orleans CityBusiness. That reporting notes that normal property taxes on a $10 billion campus would be about $125 million. Under the current PILOT, Hut 8 would receive roughly a 25% break, with payments dropping to about $90 million. Parish leaders say those revenues will be shared among the sheriff’s office, the school system and the parish itself under an already approved distribution schedule.
Power, jobs and timeline
Hut 8’s River Bend overview lists 330 megawatts of utility capacity with 245 megawatts of IT capacity already commercialized for initial customers, a reflection of the company’s “power-first” strategy for AI campuses. Regional coverage puts the first phase in the roughly 300 megawatt range and says leaders hope that initial build can be online in 2027, according to WAFB. Officials also say Hut 8 will pick up the tab for the electric infrastructure needed for phase one, which includes a switchyard and transmission lines, and PR Newswire reports the build could generate about 1,000 construction jobs at peak and roughly 75 permanent positions once the site is fully operating.
Local reaction and regulators
Parish President Kenny Havard told New Orleans CityBusiness that Hut 8’s promise to use a closed-loop system was the make-or-break point for residents. “That was the one thing we wanted to make sure of, that we never had any issues,” he said. Local officials have framed the company’s agreement to build and then hand over the water system as a way to expand infrastructure without shifting costs onto existing ratepayers. At the same time, regulators and legislators are locked in a broader debate over how large industrial users should connect to the grid and whether utilities should be allowed to pass the cost of major upgrades on to other customers.
Legal and regulatory context
State regulators have begun tackling the question of who foots the bill for major grid improvements tied to data centers, and public discussion in the region has zeroed in on concerns that utilities might try to shift those costs to households and small businesses. The outcome of that debate could influence how future deals are structured across Louisiana as more AI and hyperscale projects size up the state.
If the River Bend upgrades are completed as planned, they would stand as a high-profile example of a developer paying for shared utility capacity rather than relying solely on public spending. Parish officials say the model in West Feliciana will be watched closely by other communities trying to balance the lure of big-ticket economic development with the long-term costs of serving large industrial power and water users.
