The U.S. Department of Energy on Friday announced a “unique” public-private partnership with Japan’s SoftBank Group and AEP Ohio to develop 10 GW of new power generation, including 9.2 GW of gas assets, in that state.
The project, touted by the Trump administration as the “largest natural gas generation” project in the world, was first announced in February as part of President Trump’s U.S.-Japan Strategic Trade and Investment Agreement, and is supported by $33.3 billion in Japanese funding.
The partnership aims to redevelop the site of a former uranium enrichment facility in Pike County, Ohio, and to “modernize energy infrastructure” and “develop advanced computing” in the southern part of the state, federal officials said.
The gas plant or plants will be built by a SoftBank subsidiary, SB Energy, and will connect to the local grid, DOE said. The agency did not say what other generation would be built as part of the 10 GW package.
The plan will come “at no cost to American families” and will lower electricity costs across the region, the agency said.
The announcement said construction on the project “is expected” to begin this year.
DOE said the project complies with Trump’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, a voluntary agreement by hyperscalers to pay for the grid infrastructure built to power the AI boom. Citing the pledge, DOE said SB Energy is investing $4.2 billion with AEP Ohio to upgrade and build new transmission lines in Southern Ohio.
“This critical grid investment, at no cost to the public, will help lower local utility rates for American families and businesses. SB Energy has committed to making excess transmission and generation capacity available to the grid,” the agency said in a statement.
“If it were not for the partnership between all parties ... this type of investment would not be possible,” Bill Fehrman, AEP chairman, CEO and president, said in a statement. “This partnership unlocks billions of dollars of electric transmission infrastructure, all without increasing customer rates.”
