Brookfield and NextEra Plan $100B Kentucky AI Campus

The next generation of AI campuses is being designed around electricity first and servers second.

What happened

Brookfield and NextEra Energy have been selected to develop a large data-centre and power campus at the former Paducah uranium-enrichment site in western Kentucky.

Brookfield would develop and operate the data-centre campus, while NextEra would build and own dedicated energy infrastructure. The early plan includes more than 1 gigawatt of data-centre capacity, up to 2 gigawatts of gas generation and 2.6 gigawatts of battery storage.

The project has been associated with as much as $100 billion of projected private investment, but that is a long-term development estimate—not money already committed or spent. The campus still requires customers, contracts, regulatory approvals and phased construction before the full vision can materialise.

The location offers something ordinary development sites often lack: a large industrial footprint, access to transmission infrastructure and government support for reusing a former federal nuclear facility.

Why it matters

Power availability has become one of the hardest constraints on new AI data centres. Connecting a large computing campus to the grid can take years, while local networks may not have enough spare capacity.

Building power and compute together gives developers more control over timing and reliability. Batteries can smooth peaks, while dedicated generation reduces dependence on finding several gigawatts of unused grid capacity.

The bigger picture

AI infrastructure is becoming an energy-development business. Data-centre operators, utilities, infrastructure funds and governments increasingly need to plan projects together rather than treating electricity as a standard input purchased later. The Paducah proposal is enormous and still early, but its design shows where the market is heading: integrated campuses built around land, power and transmission.