John W. Ketchum

Stories

Coalition to build data center and dedicated power campus at DOE's Paducah site

As of July 2026: Leads the company selected to build and own the site's power

A coalition led by Brookfield and NextEra Energy is turning part of the former Paducah uranium plant into an AI computing campus with its own gas plants and batteries. The Department of Energy signed a lease for about 785 acres at the site in July 2026, and the campus is slated for full build-out by 2032.

Updated Jul 29

AI data centers are rebuilding – and stress-testing – the U.S. power grid

Built World

As of May 2026: Leading utility-side buildout of AI-era data center power and nuclear extensions

Since late 2022, U.S. regulators and utilities have warned that AI-optimized data centers could reshape national power demand, ending an era of flat electricity consumption and forcing rapid buildout of generation and transmission. By early 2026, those warnings have crystallized into concrete challenges. PJM Interconnection's December 2025 capacity auction hit the $333.44/MW-day price cap and failed to meet reliability requirements for the first time in its history. Data centers accounted for $6.5 billion—or 40%—of the auction's $16.4 billion in costs.

Updated May 10