The Department of Energy says Southern Ohio will host a 10-gigawatt AI data-center campus powered by new generation, new transmission, and a promise that Ohio families will not shoulder the bill. DOE's March fact sheet says SoftBank Group and SB Energy plan to build 10 gigawatts of new power generation, including at least 9.2 gigawatts of natural gas, to power 10 gigawatts of data-center development. [1]
The paper's Wednesday account of FERC's data-center load-forecasting fight argued that AI power claims must be tested against grid reality, not company ambition. Ohio is the laboratory version of that test. DOE says SB Energy and AEP Ohio will build $4.2 billion in new transmission infrastructure, with SB Energy committed to paying for it. [1]
The selling language is designed to reassure. DOE says the project aligns with President Trump's Ratepayer Protection Pledge by building or buying new power, paying for delivery infrastructure, paying whether the project uses the power or not, and agreeing to a dedicated data-center rate structure so Ohio families and small businesses do not pay for new power plants and transmission lines. [1]
That is the mainstream frame: jobs, energy dominance, AI leadership, and local revitalization at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. DOE says the project will create more than 10,000 construction jobs over four years, more than 2,000 operational jobs, and a $40 million community-benefits agreement. [1]
X sees the same facts and smells subsidy. The skepticism is not irrational. New gas generation needs fuel. New interstate gas pipeline development touches permitting, land, markets, and shared infrastructure. DOE itself says the transmission investments include new 765-kilovolt lines and four substations, improving regional reliability while the gas pipeline supports additional generation. [1]
The gap is between paying for a project and insulating a system. A dedicated rate can protect households from one capital bill. It cannot automatically isolate them from fuel-price volatility, pipeline risk, transmission interdependence, or a load forecast that changes the grid around them. DOE's pledge is specific enough to test. That is its virtue and its danger.
If the project lowers costs and adds capacity, it becomes the administration's proof of concept. If shared systems absorb risk while private data centers take the compute, the pledge becomes a slogan with a kitchen-table aftertaste. Ohio's ten gigawatts will tell the difference.
-- THEO KAPLAN, San Francisco