SoftBank to spend an eye-popping $33B to build huge U.S. gas power plant

SoftBank subsidiary SB Energy plans to build a massive 9.2 gigawatt natural gas-fired power plant on the Ohio-Kentucky border, with an estimated cost of $33 billion. This project would be significantly more expensive than recent natural gas plants, reflecting a sharp rise in construction costs. It remains unclear who will ultimately bear the financial burden, though traditionally, rate-payers fund new generating capacity. The plant’s purpose—whether to supply the general power grid or to support data centers—is also not specified, though SoftBank has partnerships with OpenAI involving data center power solutions. The project is expected to take many years, potentially up to a decade, to complete, especially given current shortages of natural gas turbines. Environmentally, the plant could emit approximately 15 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, with potentially greater climate impacts when factoring in emissions from the natural gas supply chain. The article highlights the significant financial, logistical, and environmental challenges associated with this large-scale fossil fuel infrastructure investment