This story will be updated following a press event Wednesday afternoon.
A $100 billion data center campus will be built on federally-owned land in far western Kentucky.
The U.S. Department of Energy detailed plans in a Wednesday release for the privately funded project on the grounds of the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion plant site – which will also include a dedicated 2-gigawatt natural gas-fired power plant that could be constructed “at or near the Paducah campus.”
One gigawatt of capacity is roughly the output of a traditional nuclear power plant and packs enough electricity to power about 750,000 homes at any given time.
The release hailed the investment – which follows a request for proposals put out last fall – as one of the largest in Kentucky’s history. It’s expected to create around 8,000 construction jobs and 600 permanent positions.
The Paducah DOE site was among 16 federally-owned facilities tabbed by the Trump administration last year for potential data center and energy infrastructure development.
According to the release, Brookfield – a New York-based global investment firm with more than $1 trillion in assets – will develop and operate the data center campus while NextEra Energy, one of the largest power utilities in America, will build and own the energy infrastructure that powers it.
Big Rivers Electric Power Corporation will provide “wholesale electric service” and Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative – a member-owner of Big Rivers – will run retail electric service. The Paducah Power System will also serve as a community partner. Approval from the Kentucky Public Service Commission is still needed to put the power service agreement in place, DOE officials said.
According to the DOE release, the project’s energy generation and storage capacity are expected to exceed the data center’s needs, allowing that additional electricity to run into the regional grid and – as outlined in President Donald Trump’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge – help reduce energy costs for families and businesses.
In addition to building a grid-connected natural gas-fired plant, NextEra Energy also plans to upgrade the existing transmission infrastructure and install up to 2.6 GW of battery energy storage to support the 1.8 GW artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC) innovation campus.
“Thanks to President Trump, the U.S. government is leveraging its assets—like our federal lands—to add power generation, create jobs, and ensure the United States wins the AI race,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in the release. “By transforming former DOE sites into engines of innovation and economic growth, we can revitalize communities with increased tax revenue and thousands of jobs, while also strengthening America’s energy security.”
According to the release, the project advances what the DOE calls the American Energy Hubs initiative – an effort to transform former DOE sites into engines of affordable energy production, advanced manufacturing, technological innovation and economic growth.
This isn’t the only development around the former nuclear site. General Matter – a company with ties to billionaire investor and Trump ally Peter Thiel – announced plans last year to build a privately funded $1.5 billion uranium enrichment facility on the grounds of the Paducah DOE site. Across the fenceline, Global Laser Enrichment is developing a $1.76 billion project: what would be the world’s first laser uranium enrichment facility on a commercial scale.
DOE officials say the Paducah site’s existing transmission capacity, water infrastructure, fiber connectivity, and available land make it “uniquely positioned to support large-scale AI infrastructure” and draw in major private investment while also continuing environmental cleanup on the site.
“We are intently focused on finding ways to put federal land back to productive use for the American people,” DOE Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Tim Walsh said in the release.
Construction is expected to be completed in 2031.
More details are expected to be announced during an event on the former PGDP campus Wednesday afternoon.
