DOE Selects Brookfield and NextEra for $100B Paducah AI Hub
The U.S. Department of Energy has selected Brookfield Asset Management and NextEra Energy to develop an artificial intelligence data center and energy complex at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in western Kentucky.
DOE announced the partnership on July 29, 2026. The proposed project represents more than $100 billion in private investment and would combine an artificial intelligence and high-performance computing campus with new natural gas generation, battery storage and transmission infrastructure.
Brookfield was selected to lease federal land and develop and operate the data center campus. NextEra Energy was selected to build and own the energy infrastructure intended to serve it. Big Rivers Electric Corporation, Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative and Paducah Power System are also participating in the project.
The scale is substantial, but several important steps remain. The project is subject to negotiation and execution of definitive documents, and its power service agreement requires approval from the Kentucky Public Service Commission. No hyperscale technology company or anchor data center tenant has been publicly identified.
Key Paducah AI Data Center Project Details
- More than $100 billion in proposed private investment
- Approximately 785 acres of leased federal land
- A planned 1.8-gigawatt AI and high-performance computing campus
- More than 1.2 gigawatts of projected computing capacity
- Up to 2 gigawatts of new natural gas-fired generation
- Up to 2.6 gigawatts of battery energy storage
- Approximately 8,000 projected construction jobs
- Approximately 600 projected permanent jobs
- Initial project components targeted for operation beginning in 2028
- DOE expects construction to be completed in 2031, while the developer announcement describes full construction in 2032
Transforming a Former Uranium-Enrichment Site
The Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant operated for decades as part of the U.S. uranium-enrichment system. The plant supported national defense activities and later produced enriched uranium for commercial nuclear power before enrichment operations ended in 2013.
DOE selected the site partly because it already has substantial industrial infrastructure, including transmission capacity, water infrastructure, fiber connectivity, roads and large areas of federally controlled land.
The data center and energy development would occupy approximately 785 acres within the larger federal property. Environmental remediation and deactivation work will continue elsewhere at the site.
According to DOE, cleanup of the approximately 3,550-acre property is expected to continue through 2065 at an estimated total cost of roughly $17 billion. That work includes demolishing contaminated buildings, addressing uranium-processing equipment, managing refrigerants and treating groundwater contamination.
The data center development does not replace or complete that cleanup mission. It represents a parallel effort to return selected portions of federal land to productive use while remediation continues.
DOE is pursuing comparable redevelopment models at other former federal nuclear sites. ENMG previously examined the proposed AI data center and energy project at the Savannah River Site, where Amentum entered lease negotiations for a large computing campus and associated power infrastructure.
Together, the projects demonstrate how DOE is attempting to reuse federal land with established infrastructure for energy-intensive computing and industrial development.
Brookfield and NextEra’s Roles in Paducah
Under the announced framework, Brookfield would lease land from DOE and develop and operate the data center campus.
Brookfield Chief Executive Bruce Flatt described Paducah as the starting point for the company’s plan to invest $100 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure. The total includes more than the physical buildings and energy facilities. According to reporting , Brookfield estimates that approximately 30% of the spending would support construction and power infrastructure, while the remainder would cover equipment such as servers, networking hardware and semiconductor technology.
That distinction matters because the $100 billion figure should not be interpreted as the construction cost of a single building or power plant.
NextEra Energy would build and own the dedicated energy resources serving the campus. Its planned work includes:
- Up to 2 gigawatts of grid-connected natural gas-fired generation
- Up to 2.6 gigawatts of battery energy storage
- Upgrades to existing transmission infrastructure
- Staged development of generation as computing demand increases
The planned generation and storage capacity would exceed the campus’s anticipated electricity requirements. DOE says excess electricity could be delivered to the regional grid.
However, the amount and timing of any excess supply will depend on data center demand, plant operations, battery charging requirements, transmission conditions and the final commercial agreements.
Natural Gas and Battery Storage Would Support the Campus
The planned 2 gigawatts of natural gas generation would make the Paducah development one of Kentucky’s largest power projects and, according to the Associated Press, the state’s largest gas-fired generating complex if fully constructed.
Natural gas plants can provide dispatchable electricity when computing demand is high or other power resources are unavailable. Battery systems can respond quickly to short-duration fluctuations, support grid stability and help manage changes in data center load.
Battery capacity and stored energy are not the same measurement. The announcement identifies up to 2.6 gigawatts of battery capacity but does not disclose the systems’ duration in gigawatt-hours. Without that information, it is not yet possible to determine how long the batteries could sustain their maximum output.
The project’s reliance on gas and storage reflects the larger problem facing AI infrastructure developers: data centers need large quantities of electricity on development schedules that can move faster than conventional utility planning, power-plant construction and transmission expansion.
ENMG’s analysis of on-site gas generation for AI data centers examines how developers are increasingly considering dedicated generation when utility interconnections cannot be delivered quickly enough.
The Paducah arrangement is not described as a completely isolated behind-the-meter system. The gas generation is expected to be grid-connected, and Big Rivers Electric Corporation and Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative would provide wholesale and retail electric service.
Local Utilities and Ratepayer Protections
Big Rivers Electric Corporation would provide wholesale electricity service for the campus. Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative would deliver retail service, while Paducah Power System would participate as a community partner.
The developers say the project is structured to comply with the White House’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge. Under that principle, data center developers and participating companies, not existing residential and small-business customers, would be responsible for the infrastructure costs created by the new load.
NextEra Energy Chairman, President and CEO John Ketchum said the data center would bring and pay for its own power infrastructure without adding costs to existing customers.
That is the stated project structure, but the final ratepayer impact will depend on the power service agreement, cost-allocation provisions, transmission investments and regulatory decisions. The agreement remains subject to oversight and approval by the Kentucky Public Service Commission.
The commission’s review will be important because projected benefits do not automatically guarantee that every future expense will remain separated from existing customer rates. Cost allocation, financial guarantees and the treatment of unused or underutilized infrastructure will require careful examination.
Economic Effects in Western Kentucky
DOE and the project developers estimate that the development could create approximately 8,000 construction jobs and 600 permanent operations jobs.
Construction employment would likely extend across data center development, power generation, transmission, battery installation, roads, utilities and supporting infrastructure. Permanent positions would include data center operations, electrical and mechanical maintenance, engineering, security and facility management.
The development could also generate new demand for natural gas supply, pipeline capacity, transformers, turbines, electrical equipment, cooling systems and skilled labor.
Those figures remain projections rather than current employment totals. Actual job creation will depend on whether the project reaches final agreements, secures regulatory approval, attracts computing customers and proceeds through each construction phase.
No anchor hyperscale customer had been publicly announced with the original project selection. That omission is significant because a data center campus of this size will ultimately require customers willing to make long-term computing and power commitments.
Environmental Cleanup and Community Concerns
Redevelopment will occur while DOE continues environmental cleanup at the former enrichment facility.
Community and environmental organizations have raised questions about construction near contaminated areas, water requirements, groundwater protection, air emissions and whether local ratepayers could ultimately bear part of the infrastructure cost.
The planned natural gas generation would also produce carbon dioxide and other regulated emissions. The facilities will require applicable air, water, construction and operating permits, and the specific emissions-control technology has not yet been publicly detailed.
Battery storage may help manage short-term fluctuations and support grid operations, but it does not eliminate emissions from gas-fired generation. Likewise, locating the project on previously developed federal land may reduce some greenfield siting impacts, but it does not remove the need for environmental review or careful coordination with the ongoing cleanup.
DOE’s existing remediation program and the commercial redevelopment will therefore need clearly separated responsibilities, monitoring requirements and safety controls.
The National AI and Energy Strategy
The Paducah project is part of a broader federal effort to accelerate artificial intelligence infrastructure by providing access to government-owned sites with existing industrial and energy assets.
DOE identified Paducah, the Oak Ridge Reservation, Idaho National Laboratory and the Savannah River Site for potential AI data center and generation projects. The department has also pursued energy and industrial redevelopment at its Portsmouth site in Ohio.
The strategy is based on a straightforward constraint: AI infrastructure is becoming an energy-development issue as much as a computing issue.
ENMG Chief Energy Analyst Robert Rapier examined that shift in The AI Boom Is Becoming an Energy Boom, which explains how rapidly growing data center consumption is affecting generation, transmission and utility planning.
A 1.8-gigawatt campus would represent a load comparable to a large power system in its own right. Serving it reliably will require generation, transmission, storage, fuel supply, cooling infrastructure and coordinated grid operations.
The federal-land model may shorten portions of the siting process by using property already controlled by DOE. It does not eliminate permitting, utility regulation, construction risk, equipment constraints or the need to secure commercial customers.
What to Watch Next
Several developments will determine whether the Paducah proposal progresses from announcement to operating infrastructure:
- Execution of definitive agreements among DOE, Brookfield, NextEra Energy and participating utilities
- Identification of one or more anchor data center customers
- Kentucky Public Service Commission review of the power service agreement
- Air, water and construction permits for the gas plants and supporting infrastructure
- Disclosure of the battery systems’ duration and operating configuration
- Natural gas pipeline and fuel-supply arrangements
- Transmission interconnection studies and upgrade requirements
- Coordination between construction and the continuing federal cleanup program
- Confirmation of the 2028 initial operating target
- Reconciliation of the 2031 DOE completion target with the 2032 full-buildout date identified by the developers
- Financial guarantees intended to prevent costs from shifting to existing ratepayers
The Paducah project could become one of the largest integrations of artificial intelligence infrastructure, natural gas generation and battery storage in the United States.
It could also become a test of whether private developers can construct massive new computing loads on federal land without shifting infrastructure costs or environmental risks to surrounding communities.
For now, DOE has selected its partners and established the proposed framework. The next phase will show whether the companies can convert a $100 billion plan into a permitted, financed and commercially supported project.
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