Softbank, AEP to Build Massive Ohio Gas Power Plant, Data Center
By Reuters | 20 Mar, 2026

SB Energy plans to link a 9.2-GW gas plant to the local grid to power a 10-GW AI data center to be built on federal land as part of the US-Japan trade deal.

The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday announced a partnership between Japan's SoftBank Group and electric utility AEP to build a colossal gas-fired power plant and data center on federal land in Ohio.

The arrangement, which would involve building a 10-gigawatt artificial intelligence server warehouse, is part of a wider Washington-Tokyo trade deal.

SB Energy, a unit of SoftBank, plans to connect a 9.2-gigawatt gas plant to the local grid and power the new data center at the federally owned Portsmouth site in Pike County, Ohio.

If constructed, the gas plant and data center would be among the world's largest. One gigawatt can power nearly 1 million homes.

During the Cold War, the U.S. produced enriched uranium for weapons at Portsmouth. Billions of dollars have been spent on decontaminating the site and its hundreds of buildings.

The public-private partnership includes $33.3 billion in funding from Japan, the Department of Energy said.

The investment is part of a U.S. trade deal with Japan struck in October that committed to invest $550 billion across the United States on nuclear power, rare earth minerals and other projects as both countries looked to reduce China's dominance in electronic components.

"With this historic trade deal we are reindustrializing the country through critical projects like this $33 billion power project," said Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.

Friday's announcement also said SB Energy is investing $4.2 billion with AEP Ohio to upgrade and build transmission lines in southern Ohio.

Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp, said the deal strengthens U.S. artificial intelligence leadership and helps to secure capacity for energy and computing.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the U.S. government "is leveraging its assets - like our federal lands - to add power generation, create jobs, and ensure the United States wins the AI race.”

POWER BILLS

The White House, the technology sector and power industries are seeking to calm fears that building data centers to meet AI demand will raise electricity rates for homes and businesses.

Electric utilities have broadly charged households and small businesses for power expenses related to serving data centers, said Ari Peskoe, an energy lawyer and Harvard professor. 

The Ohio arrangement may present at least a partial solution to the problem of the public paying for costly data centers that ultimately benefit wealthy technology companies, he said.

“Perhaps this announcement signals a new way forward that charges data centers and not ratepayers for data center transmission,” Peskoe said.

Environmental advocates say the Ohio power plant will result in decades of local pollution and global-warming emissions.

"Recommitting it to decades of new pollution is another sign of this Administration prioritizing the wrong things," said Neil Waggoner of the Sierra Club.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Laila Kearney; editing by Barbara Lewis and Cynthia Osterman)