Recently, the Associated Press (AP) covered an ostensible plan to develop a massive, 10 GW data center, and "up to" 10 GW natural gas generation plant to power it, in southern Ohio. It's one of many "projects" that the Administration seems to be oddly involved in trumpeting. And in this case, it was cheered in person by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. The original AP article quoted Lutnick as describing it as part of a broader effort to "reindustrialize the country" through large-scale energy and infrastructure projects. This, one imagines, would be welcome, because no manufacturing jobs have come “roaring back,” and the USA has instead lost almost 100,000 over the last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Joint Economic Committee.
Sonal Patel of POWER magazine, the finest electric generation-focused writer I know of, wrote recently about this project with a more realistic tone of skepticism, given a number of factors, including its almost unheard-of size, equal to about 10 average nuclear plants' capacity, and the fact that no local officials have had any official confirmation of it. Among other things, Patel wrote: “But beyond those claims, neither the government nor the developer has released other basic details such as plant configuration, permitting path, interconnection plan, financing structure, or target in‑service date.” Patel also wrote "While Portsmouth is located in Scioto County, as of February 19, 2026 the Pike County Economic Development Director and Scioto County Commissioners have both reportedly said they have no information on where the touted Ohio site for the Portsmouth Powered Land Project, the deal’s mega gas power project, would actually be sited."Â
Patel also noted that PJM was not aware of the project before the Trump administration announced it, PJM spokesperson Dan Lockwood told POWER. As someone who worked closely with PJM for nine years, the idea of building and injecting roughly 10 GW of gas generation onto the grid, as well as adding an equal amount of load—without the slightest notice to the grid operator much less completed interconnection studies and a secured place in the queue—is extremely unusual, and frankly, unrealistic.
Perhaps even more striking, though, as AP wrote, "DOE said SoftBank, through SB Energy, is partnering with AEP Ohio to build the power generation and transmission infrastructure, including a $4.2 billion investment in grid upgrades and new transmission lines that the companies say will not raise customer rates."
PJM has been floundering for at least two years in making proposals for tariff changes to manage the addition of power-hogging data centers to its footprint, as well as its controversial, ten-fold increase in ratepayer capacity payment costs booked for the 2026/2027 delivery year. Moreover, PJM's record in foisting data center infrastructure costs onto ordinary ratepayers rather than on data center owners has been abysmal and has led to angry pushbacks and pending blocking legislation in several states—including Ohio.
But most of all, someone in the administration, PJM, or the local Ohio utility needs to explain the logic, must less the actual financing mechanisms, in how a 10‑GW gas plant can pencil out with a single hyperscale buyer; why Japan is suddenly financing U.S. fossil infrastructure again; how Ohio AEP will earn returns even when it doesn’t own the generation and has to "invest" in massive interconnection upgrades; and why the administration is framing this as “no ratepayer impact.” This, as the kids say, looks very “sus.” AEP Ohio still earns a regulated return on operating and maintaining those lines, a guaranteed profit on infrastructure it didn’t build or finance. And that return must come from PJM cost allocation, which spreads transmission O&M expenses across all users in the region, including Ohio ratepayers. So, while AEP doesn’t borrow money, it seems that it will receive a risk-free revenue stream, and Ohio customers will pay, as they have been doing in the billions of dollars.
As for the project’s media coverage, "Officials also said excess power capacity generated at the site would be fed back into the grid to help lower electricity costs in the region." The problem with that assertion is that generators don't feed energy or offer capacity onto the PJM grid without being paid for both. They would either do so at market-clearing rates for both energy and capacity, or a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) at a contracted rate that would certainly benefit the generator. Ratepayers? Not so much.
I have no way to know if this is a phantom project that will never come to fruition, or instead, that all the official hype will result in something--from the "announced" massive gas gen and 10 GW data center load--to more likely, something far less. But the sketchiness of what we've been officially told thus far should give all parties, not least the PJM grid operator that seems to be in the dark, reason to question the bona fides here. # # #