Brookfield and NextEra to Build $100 Billion AI Data Hub on Former Kentucky Nuclear Site

Brookfield and NextEra Energy have announced a joint venture to create a massive AI-focused data centre and energy campus on the former Paducah uranium enrichment facility in western Kentucky. The site, once part of the U.S. nuclear weapons program, will host 2 GW of natural-gas-fired power and 2.6 GW of battery storage, enough to serve roughly 1.5 million homes. The U.S. Department of Energy will lease over 3,500 acres of the government-owned property for the privately financed project, which is expected to come online in stages beginning in 2028 and be completed by early 2032.

Brookfield chief executive Bruce Flatt described the venture as the first step in a $100 billion rollout of AI infrastructure, and talks are ongoing with leading cloud computing firms to secure anchor tenancy. The initiative is tied to the White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge, a non-binding commitment championed by President Donald Trump to shield consumers from rising electricity costs as AI data centres expand. The proposal faces opposition from several states that have enacted or considered bans on new data-centre construction, and from lawmakers such as Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who have called for a nationwide moratorium.