Trump-Backed $33B Ohio Power Plant Plan Questioned by Analysts
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- SoftBank, through subsidiary SB Energy, is developing the PORTS Technology Campus in Piketon, Ohio — a 9.2-gigawatt gas power plant ($33 billion) paired with a 10-gigawatt AI data center, with a potential decade-long investment of up to $1.5 trillion.
- Ric O'Connell, executive director of GridLab, said the project costs roughly $3,586 per kilowatt — two to three times a typical combined-cycle gas plant — and predicted it would be "scaled way down or killed" once Trump leaves office.
- Mike Hogan of the Regulatory Assistance Project said there is a "Sherman tank-sized hole" in the claim that consumers will be shielded from cost increases, warning that this and other new gas plants will push heating and electricity prices higher.
- The project stems from a U.S.-Japan trade deal in which Japan pledged $550 billion for Trump-administration-selected projects in exchange for a tariff cut from 24 percent to 15 percent; profits split 50-50 until Japan meets benchmarks, then 90 percent to the U.S.
- American Electric Power has filed a pre-application for a 50-mile transmission line to serve the plant, drawing three public comments urging the Ohio Power Siting Board to reject the project over farmland damage and disruption to an Amish community.
- SB Energy said construction on the data center begins this summer with the first 800-megawatt phase targeted to open by 2028, and that it has reserved gas turbines from multiple suppliers including GE Vernova.
- Pike County Commissioner Tony Montgomery acknowledged community skepticism, noting Piketon has weathered multiple rounds of broken promises since the Portsmouth uranium enrichment plant closed in 2001 after employing thousands.
Why it matters: If analysts are right, the $33 billion plant and 10-gigawatt data center are an election-cycle showcase whose economics collapse once political pressure fades — meaning the 550-billion-dollar Japan pledge, gas-turbine supply chains, and Piketon's economic hopes all hinge on a project that may never reach its advertised scale. For Ohio ratepayers, Hogan warns that even partial construction will ripple into heating and electricity bills across the region.
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