SoftBank subsidiary plans $33 billion US power plant

SB Energy, a subsidiary of the Japanese investor SoftBank, is expected to build a 9.2 gigawatt natural gas-fired power plant on the Ohio-Kentucky border in the US. According to a report from Bloomberg, the massive infrastructure project carries a cost of $33 billion. If completed, the facility would be the largest power plant in the US. The project involves constructing a natural gas-fired power plant, which is an infrastructure facility designed to generate electricity using natural gas. Bloomberg notes that with a price tag of $33 billion, the project would be more expensive than recent natural gas-fired power plants, which have skyrocketed in cost.

The scale of the proposed $33 billion power plant highlights the massive energy requirements associated with Stargate, the data center partnership between SoftBank and OpenAI. OpenAI and SoftBank are in the process of building a proof of concept data center at General Motors’ (GM) former Lordstown automotive assembly plant. However, it remains unclear who will ultimately pay for the construction of the 9.2 gigawatt power plant, as no funding sources have been finalized for the project. Bloomberg notes that traditionally, rate-payers have shouldered the financial burden for new generating capacity. Additionally, SB Energy did not say whether the new power plant would feed directly into the grid or if it would power data centers. A power plant of this size is likely to take years, perhaps a decade, to complete, even before taking into account the shortage of natural gas turbines.

If completed, the power plant would be capable of powering around 7.5 million homes. However, the environmental impact of the project could be substantial. The facility could emit around 15 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, according to calculations based on public energy-use metrics. When including methane leaks from the natural gas supply chain, the overall climate impact of the project could be even bigger than the carbon dioxide emissions alone suggest.

Why it matters

The proposed $33 billion power plant underscores the massive energy requirements driving the Stargate data center partnership between SoftBank and OpenAI.