By Vallari Srivastava and Laila Kearney
July 29 (Reuters) - NextEra Energy and Brookfield plan to develop a $100 billion data center campus and power plant at a federally owned former uranium enrichment site in Kentucky, the companies said on Wednesday.
The Paducah, Kentucky, campus is the latest in a string of project announcements that pairs Department of Energy land with server warehouses and large-scale power generation as the U.S. races to expand artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The project
is expected to provide more than 1.2 gigawatts of data center compute capacity and up to 1.8 GW of electricity that could be supplied to the grid, the companies said.
Under the deal, NextEra, which is one of the world's largest power companies, will develop up to 2 GW of natural gas-fired power and 2.6 GW of battery storage capacity, while Brookfield will own and operate the 1.8 GW campus, the companies said.
Both companies were selected by the DOE to take part in the project, which is scheduled to begin operations in 2028 and reach full development four years later.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration announced the development of a nearly 10 GW data center and power generating campus in Ohio.
One gigawatt can power about 750,000 homes.
The broader coalition involved in the Kentucky project includes electric cooperative utilities Big Rivers Electric Power Corporation, Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative and Paducah Power System, which will provide wholesale and distribution services.
The campus will be built on the DOE's Paducah Site, which was constructed in the 1950s to produce enriched uranium, initially for nuclear weapons. The facility later produced enriched uranium for nuclear reactors and closed in 2013.
Because of its past operations, the site already has transmission capacity, water, fiber and other infrastructure that could speed development, the companies said.
NextEra said the project fulfills the Trump administration's "Ratepayer Protection Pledge," which seeks to ensure that companies building and using data centers do not pass energy costs onto residential customers.
"By advancing this project in line with the White House’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, we are ensuring innovation and affordability go hand in hand while creating high-quality jobs, attracting new investment, and strengthening the local economy," said Brookfield CEO Bruce Flatt.
The project is subject to negotiation and execution of definitive documentation.
(Reporting by Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru. Editing by Tasim Zahid and Mark Potter)
