$100 billion AI data center campus planned at the Paducah DOE site, proposing to repurpose federal infrastructure for large-scale AI workloads.
A coalition of energy and infrastructure companies plans to invest $100 billion in a data center and power-generation campus at the U.S. Department of Energy's Paducah Site in Kentucky. The privately funded project is expected to create approximately 8,000 construction jobs and 600 full-time operations positions.
The partnership includes Brookfield, NextEra Energy, Big Rivers Electric Power Corp., Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative, and Paducah Power System. Brookfield has been selected to lease federal land and develop and operate the data center campus, while NextEra Energy will build and own the power infrastructure.
The campus is scheduled for completion by 2032 and will support up to 1.8 gigawatts of utility capacity and more than 1.2 gigawatts of computing capacity. Power generation plans call for up to 2 gigawatts of new natural gas generation and 2.6 gigawatts of battery storage, added in stages as the campus expands.
Big Rivers Electric will provide wholesale electricity, Jackson Purchase Energy will provide retail service, and Paducah Power System will serve as a community partner. The companies emphasize that the campus will pay for its own energy infrastructure, preventing costs from being passed to existing residential and small-business customers. The power agreement remains subject to Kentucky Public Service Commission review and approval.
The development will reuse portions of the former uranium enrichment site, which already possesses transmission capacity, water infrastructure, fiber connections, roads, and available land.
"This project is a proof point for how AI infrastructure should be built in America," said NextEra Energy Chairman and CEO John Ketchum. "The data center will bring its own power, pay for its own power infrastructure, and create good-paying jobs for local workers."
The project remains subject to final negotiations and execution of definitive agreements.