Energy Secretary Announces New American Energy Hub at Paducah Site

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright speaks at an event announcing a $100 billion investment on leased land at the Paducah Site.

PADUCAH, Ky. — U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Assistant Secretary of Environmental Management Tim Walsh joined industry leaders and local, state and national representatives last week to announce the development of a new American Energy Hub at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Paducah Site.

“What is the next industry that is going to define the next few decades? There’s so much coming to our country, but the most significant of all is artificial intelligence,” Wright said.

Assistant Secretary of Environmental Management Tim Walsh, left, meets with local community leaders following an announcement of a new data center campus at the Paducah Site.

Officials outlined a landmark partnership to redevelop portions of the Paducah Site into a world-class artificial intelligence (AI) high-performance computing (HPC) innovation campus powered by new affordable energy infrastructure.

“This site will lead America into the future,” Walsh said at the event attended by hundreds of members of the Paducah Site workforce. “We are enabling large projects on federal lands to keep our nation secure, maintain our position as a global leader in innovation, boost affordable energy generation and expand economic opportunities.”

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, right, meets with Paducah Site workforce members following the American Energy Hub announcement at the Paducah Site. The project is expected to create approximately 8,000 construction jobs and 600 permanent jobs.

For decades, the site played a pivotal role in the nation’s security. It will now be a hub for American innovation. The $100 billion investment, one of the largest in Kentucky’s history, will help lower electricity costs across the region, create thousands of high-paying American jobs and strengthen national security.

Plans include building 2 gigawatts (GW) of new grid-connected natural gas-fired generation, upgrading existing transmission infrastructure and deploying up to 2.6 GW of battery energy storage systems to support a new 1.8-GW AI and HPC innovation campus.

The Paducah Site, which is undergoing deactivation and remediation from decades of uranium enrichment operations, is uniquely positioned to support the redevelopment. The existing transmission capacity, water infrastructure, fiber connectivity and available land can support large-scale AI infrastructure.

“We are advancing environmental cleanup with urgency and turning these sites into engines of economic growth and affordable energy,” Walsh said.

Assistant Secretary of Environmental Management Tim Walsh welcomes attendees to an event announcing a new American Energy Hub at the Paducah Site.

Consistent with President Donald Trump’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, the project’s generation and storage capacity would exceed the campus’s energy needs, allowing excess electricity to be delivered to the regional grid, helping reduce energy costs for American families and businesses.

Following a request for offers in November 2025, DOE selected Brookfield to develop and operate the Paducah data center campus, and NextEra Energy to build and own the dedicated energy resources that will power the campus.

Big Rivers Electric Power Corp. will provide wholesale electric service, Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative will provide retail service and Paducah Power System will serve as a community partner. The power service agreement remains subject to approval by the Kentucky Public Service Commission.

The development will sit on approximately 785 acres of leased land on the Paducah Site. Construction is expected to be completed in 2031.

The announcement comes on the heels of another energy hub announced at the Portsmouth Site in March, as DOE continues to find opportunities to turn liabilities into assets.

-Contributor: Sarah Marko