NextEra, Brookfield $100B AI Campus

NextEra Energy and Brookfield Asset Management are leading a coalition to develop a $100 billion AI data center campus at the former Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky, a decommissioned uranium enrichment site owned by the U.S. Department of Energy. The project includes up to 2 GW of natural gas-fired power and 2.6 GW of battery storage from NextEra, while Brookfield will own and operate the 1.8 GW campus. The campus is expected to deliver over 1.2 GW of computing capacity and create approximately 8,000 construction jobs and 600 permanent jobs. Initial operations are targeted for 2028, with full completion by 2032. The project aligns with the Trump administration's Ratepayer Protection Pledge to prevent cost shifting to residential customers. The coalition also includes Big Rivers Electric Corporation, Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative, and Paducah Power System. The DOE selected Brookfield to lease the land and NextEra to build power resources. The announcement follows a similar DOE project at the Portsmouth site in Ohio, where OVO Energy (a SoftBank subsidiary) plans a 10 GW data center with $4.2 billion in transmission upgrades and $33.3 billion in Japanese government support.