NextEra and Brookfield to build $100 billion Kentucky data campus

The largest private data center development in US history will transform a shuttered Cold War uranium plant into a $100 billion AI hub.

NextEra Energy Inc. and Brookfield Asset Management are developing a $100 billion data center campus on the site of a former Cold War uranium-enrichment facility in Paducah, Kentucky, the largest private investment in data center infrastructure ever announced in the United States.

"This project represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to repurpose federal land for the AI economy," a person familiar with the matter said.

The privately funded effort will include construction of 2 gigawatts of natural gas-fired power at or near the site, plus as much as 2.6 gigawatts of battery storage capacity, according to the Energy Department, which announced the project Wednesday. A single gigawatt of capacity is roughly the output of a traditional nuclear power plant and can power about 750,000 homes at any given moment.

The campus underscores the staggering energy demands of artificial intelligence, which is driving a wave of data center construction that is reshaping America's power grid and industrial real estate. For NextEra, the largest US power utility, and Brookfield, one of the world's biggest infrastructure investors, the bet is that AI's computing needs will continue to grow for decades, requiring vast amounts of reliable, around-the-clock electricity that the existing grid cannot supply.

The Scale of AI's Power Problem

The 2 GW of natural gas generation planned for the site is equivalent to the capacity needed to power roughly 1.5 million homes — or run multiple hyperscale data centers simultaneously. Amazon.com Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google have each committed tens of billions of dollars to expanding their cloud and AI infrastructure, straining utility grids from Virginia to California. The Paducah campus, with its dedicated on-site power plant, bypasses grid constraints that have delayed other projects.

The additional 2.6 GW of battery storage will help smooth the intermittent output from renewable sources and provide backup power, a critical requirement for data center operators that demand 99.999% uptime. NextEra, which operates one of the largest renewable energy fleets in the US, brings deep expertise in pairing battery storage with generation assets.

Who Wins, Who Loses

The project is a direct beneficiary of the AI arms race among hyperscalers, who are competing for scarce data center capacity with long lead times. Nvidia Corp., whose graphics processing units power most AI workloads, stands to gain as new data center capacity comes online, creating additional demand for its chips. Companies that supply data center equipment — including power management systems, cooling infrastructure and networking gear — also stand to benefit.

For utilities and independent power producers, the Paducah campus signals a structural shift in electricity demand after two decades of flat growth. The Edison Electric Institute has projected that data centers could account for as much as 9% of total US electricity consumption by 2030, up from about 2% today. That demand growth supports higher utilization rates for natural gas plants and renewable projects alike.

Investment Angle

NextEra shares trade at roughly 22 times forward earnings, a premium to the broader utilities sector, reflecting investor expectations that the company's renewable and grid assets will benefit from AI-driven demand. Brookfield, which manages more than $900 billion in assets, has been aggressively expanding its digital infrastructure portfolio, including data centers and fiber networks. The partnership combines Brookfield's capital and development expertise with NextEra's power generation capabilities — a model that could be replicated at other sites as AI infrastructure demand accelerates.

Neither company disclosed the expected timeline for construction or the specific hyperscaler tenants that will occupy the campus. The project is subject to regulatory approvals from state and federal agencies, including environmental reviews for the natural gas plant.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.