Energy & Grid Management
Molly Glick
Molly Glick
Energy Central Team
·Posted in Energy & Grid Management
Thu, Jul 30

NEWS: NextEra is turning a Superfund site into a $100B data center campus.

  • The location: The DOE’s Paducah Site in Kentucky, which hosted a Cold War-era uranium enrichment plant. The problem? The area is still being remediated…and some residents worry that construction could lead to contamination. Paducah is one of seven Superfund sites that the DOE is eyeing for AI and energy projects.

  • The power: The Brookfield-owned, 1.8-GW campus will run on dedicated new generation (up to 2 GW of gas and 2.6 GW of battery storage) owned and operated by NextEra. Plus, up to 1.8 GW of the project’s power could support the local grid. 

  • By the way: The EPA’s Acid Rain Program (which requires the power sector to reduce sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions) doesn’t apply to off-grid facilities…meaning, behind-the-meter data center generation, the EPA said.

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