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Insights > Mississippi leads the Southeastern region into new economic era
Mississippi leads the Southeastern region into new economic era
05/30/2024
AWS' groundbreaking kickstarts historic workforce development and renewable energy efforts
An electrifying spirit filled the air at the Madison County Mega Site on May 20. After years of preparation and collaboration with Entergy Mississippi, and local and state leadership, Amazon Web Services officially broke ground on the single largest capital investment in state history.
The $10 billion planned investment, which was announced in January, brings two data center complexes to the state, and allows Mississippi to lead the region into a new economic era. Investment in workforce development training will support further job growth, while commitments to add renewable energy sources will help attract more industry business.
The data center complexes will add 1,000 new jobs to the Jackson metro area, support adding 650 megawatts of solar energy to our generation mix, and increase the state’s gross domestic product by $3.3 billion.
“The AWS investment highlights the foresight of Mississippi government leaders to put forward the Economic Development with Green Energy strategy in 2021. As part of the EDGE strategy, we brought online the Sunflower Solar Station – the largest utility-owned solar installation in Mississippi – in 2022,” said Drew Marsh, chair and CEO of Entergy. “We are excited to add 650 megawatts of solar to our generation mix over the next three years. Without the EDGE strategy, and many other legislative, regulatory, and community development efforts, breaking ground on this project would not have been possible.”
Customer benefits are at the forefront of all we do at Entergy, and this moment represents our ‘why.’ Recruiting an advanced, large-scale facility to the region allows us to make further customer-led investments in our infrastructure, while keeping energy rates affordable for our nearly half-million Mississippi customers. That includes new power generation and other infrastructure that can come online sooner, while keeping costs stable for all customers.
AWS is also a strong corporate citizen and active in local non-profits – yet another example of how their goals are aligned with ours. We have long been committed to building healthy, vibrant schools, charitable organizations, and nonprofits right here in Mississippi through our financial support, volunteerism, and advocacy.
“Thank you to Governor Tate Reeves, the members of the Legislature and the Mississippi Public Service Commission, whose support was vital in bringing the AWS investment to fruition. I also want to extend a special thank you to Joey Deason and the Madison County Economic Development Authority for their leadership, foresight, and commitment to the project. This undertaking would not be possible without having a dedicated site to attract investment,” said Haley Fisackerly, Entergy Mississippi CEO and president. “Additionally, Ed Gardner, Entergy Mississippi’s vice president of business and economic development, and his team worked collaboratively and creatively for years, across many boundaries, to develop legislative, regulatory, community, economic development, and energy supply plans to meet our new customer’s needs and attract AWS to Mississippi.”
Entergy is proud to serve our communities for more than 100 years. While the groundbreaking is a momentous occasion, for us, it’s the continuation of a long and exciting journey, requiring a lot of hard work, innovation and ingenuity. We’re proud to begin this next century of service in Mississippi alongside AWS and we’re excited to play a leading role in this historic, transformative investment for the entire region.
