$100 billion AI data center campus planned for Paducah DOE site

FOX23 News at 9 p.m

PADUCAH, Ky., (KBSI) — 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.

The privately funded project is expected to create about 8,000 construction jobs and 600 full-time operations jobs, according to the coalition.

Brookfield, NextEra Energy, Big Rivers Electric Power Corp., Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative and Paducah Power System are partnering on the development.

The campus is expected to be fully constructed by 2032 and support up to 1.8 gigawatts of utility capacity and more than 1.2 gigawatts of computing capacity.

Brookfield was selected to lease federal land and develop and operate the data center campus. NextEra Energy was selected to build and own the power infrastructure needed to operate it.

Plans call for up to 2 gigawatts of new natural gas generation and 2.6 gigawatts of battery storage. The power resources would be added in stages as the campus grows.

Big Rivers will provide wholesale electricity, while Jackson Purchase Energy will provide retail service. Paducah Power System will serve as a community partner.

The companies say the campus will pay for its own energy infrastructure, preventing the project’s costs from being passed to existing residential and small-business customers. The proposed power agreement remains subject to review and approval by the Kentucky Public Service Commission.

The development would reuse part of the former uranium enrichment site, which already has 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,” NextEra Energy Chairman and CEO John Ketchum said. “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 the signing of definitive agreements.