The U.S. Department of Energy, DOE, has a site at Paducah in western Kentucky. Its release of July 29, 2026 announces a partnership with five named parties "to redevelop portions of DOE's Paducah Site into a data center campus accompanied by new affordable energy infrastructure." A federal site, a campus and its energy infrastructure, planned together. Parts of the release follow, not the whole.
A site with the wires already there
The release describes the site's position. "With existing transmission capacity, water infrastructure, fiber connectivity, and available land, the Paducah Site is uniquely positioned to support large-scale AI infrastructure and attract major private investment while continuing environmental cleanup and advancing the site's long-term redevelopment." The cleanup goes on beside the new use.
The money is private, by the release's account. "The more than $100 billion privately funded investment, one of the largest in Kentucky's history, is expected to create approximately 8,000 construction jobs and 600 permanent jobs." Those are the release's figures, and the jobs are an expectation.
Generation, storage and the campus
The release says that "the project's generation and storage capacity would exceed the campus's energy needs, allowing excess electricity to be delivered to the regional grid." The next sentence gives the expected build "At or near the Paducah campus", where the partner selected to build the energy infrastructure "plans to develop 2 gigawatts (GW) of new grid-connected natural gas-fired generation, upgrade existing transmission infrastructure, and deploy up to 2.6 GW of battery energy storage to support a new 1.8 GW artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC) innovation campus." For the batteries the release says "up to", which makes that figure a ceiling.
Who does what, and what is still to come
The release also says who does what. "Following DOE's Request for Offers issued in November 2025," one company "was selected to develop and operate the Paducah data center campus," and another "was selected to build and own the dedicated energy infrastructure that will power the site." A third "will provide wholesale electric service," a fourth "will provide retail electric service," and the fifth "will serve as a community partner."
The release's last two sentences look ahead. One says that "The power service agreement remains subject to approval by the Kentucky Public Service Commission." The other says that "Construction is expected to be completed in 2031."
The completion date is an expectation, and the power service agreement is not yet approved.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Energy. Energy Department Announces Partnership to Expand Reliable, Affordable Energy Access and Power America's AI Future in Western Kentucky. 29 July 2026. energy agency