NextEra Energy (NEE) and Brookfield Corporation (TSX: BN), together with three local power cooperatives, are moving forward with a $100 billion artificial intelligence data center campus in Paducah, Kentucky — the largest economic investment in the state’s history and one of the biggest data center developments in the United States.
The project will sit on a Department of Energy site that once housed a Cold War‑era uranium enrichment plant, which ceased operations in 2013. Existing transmission lines, water supply and fiber infrastructure left over from the site’s former use are expected to accelerate redevelopment. Operations are scheduled to begin in 2028, with full build-out targeted by 2032.
Under the arrangement, NextEra will build and own the dedicated power generation assets. The company plans to deploy up to 2 gigawatts of natural gas‑fired capacity and 2.6 GW of battery storage in phases, closely matching supply to the campus’s computing ramp‑up. Brookfield will fund and operate the data center campus, which will provide more than 1.2 GW of compute capacity and can send up to 1.8 GW of power back to the grid. Three electric cooperatives — Big Rivers Electric, Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative and Paducah Power System — will deliver wholesale and distribution services. The parties have pledged to follow the White House’s “Ratepayer Protection Pledge,” ensuring that development and operating costs are not passed on to residential customers.
For NextEra, the Kentucky campus is a cornerstone of its data center hub strategy. The company is currently working on 30 potential hubs and expects that number to rise to 40 by the end of the year. Management’s base case targets 15 GW of data‑center‑related power capacity by 2035, with an upside scenario of 30 GW or more. That base case underpins NextEra’s plan to grow adjusted earnings per share more than 8% annually through 2035. The $100 billion project helps secure the base‑case growth path and materially increases the probability of reaching the upside scenario.
For Brookfield, the campus acts as a seed investment for the $100 billion AI infrastructure program it launched last year through the Brookfield Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Fund. Backed by Brookfield itself, Nvidia and the Kuwait Investment Authority, the fund has also made a seed investment in a $25 billion framework agreement with Bloom Energy for behind‑the‑meter power solutions. AI infrastructure is the key engine behind Brookfield’s target of 25% compound annual earnings growth over the next five years.
A project of this size inevitably carries execution risk, but both NextEra and Brookfield bring long‑tested records of delivering massive, complex developments on time and on budget. For investors watching the long‑term AI megatrend, the two companies are building differentiated exposure — not through software, but through the physical infrastructure that makes it all run.
