Federal officials tout $33B energy investment, massive data center in Southern Ohio
Federal officials promoted a planned data center in Piketon, Ohio, that could become the world's largest and will be leased to OpenAI and developed by SB Energy. The project is tied to a $33 billion energy investment, including 9.2 gigawatts of natural gas generation, but environmental advocates have raised concerns about its scale, emissions and power source.
Assistant Energy Secretary Tim Walsh promoted a $33 billion energy investment in Southern Ohio that includes a planned data center at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site near Piketon. The facility is expected to be leased to OpenAI and developed by SB Energy, a U.S. subsidiary of SoftBank, with the data center projected to reach about 8 gigawatts over five years. The associated natural gas generation project is expected to create thousands of jobs and begin bringing power and data center capacity online by 2028 or 2029.
The project is among the first to adopt the Trump administration's Ratepayer Protection Pledge, under which developers would fund the required infrastructure and power generation rather than passing costs to Ohio ratepayers. Critics, including Nick Owens of Conserve Ohio, oppose the project's size and question the environmental consequences of its natural gas generation. Walsh said the facility will use a closed-loop cooling system requiring a one-time water fill and recirculation, while demolition is already underway and construction is expected to begin next year.