Does Anyone Know More About…DOEnergy Plan to Build Data Centers on Federal Land?

I started a post with this…

I get a daily newsletter from an outfit called Heatmap News.  It had this interesting article yesterday

The Department of Energy is moving ahead with plans to allow companies to build AI data centers and new power plants on federal land — and it has put together a list of more than a dozen sites nationwide that could receive the industrial-scale facilities, according to an internal memo obtained by Heatmap News.

The memo lists sites in Texas, Illinois, New Jersey, Colorado, and other locations. The government could even allow new power plants — including nuclear reactors and carbon-capture operations — to be built on the same sites to generate enough electricity to power the data centers, the memo says.

Trump officials hope to start construction on the new data centers by the end of this year and switch them on by the end of 2027, according to the memo.

The agency will request formal feedback from artificial intelligence companies and developers about how best to proceed with its proposal as soon as Thursday, according to an individual who wasn’t authorized to speak about the matter publicly …

There’s more to the story, but Heatmap News costs $99 a year, so if anyone else subscribes, please post the rest.

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UPDATE:  Thanks to the alert TSW reader who sent an E&E News, the DOE was going to use its own land.  Which interestingly didn’t come up on my previous internet search for “federal land in New Jersey.” So it goes. Here’s a link to the Request for Information itself.  If you live near any of the proposed sites, you can look at the appendix of the document for maps and photos of what they are thinking about and what considerations they are incorporating. Back to the E&E story..

In a request for information, DOE said it had identified 16 sites overseen by the department that potentially could host AI infrastructure. It said it was seeking input from companies and the public on how to potentially develop the sites and back public-private partnerships to meet surging electricity demand in the coming years.

According to the RFI text, “DOE sites offer potential advantages such as access to or the potential to build power infrastructure, secure locations and opportunities for technological collaboration with DOE research facilities.”
The 16 sites are not the only sites under consideration and no decisions have been made about “changes to land use” at the locations, the RFI says. It included detailed maps for potential data centers and indicated the Trump administration was eyeing long-term ground leases or easements for construction.

“The global race for AI dominance is the next Manhattan project, and with President Trump’s leadership and the innovation of our national labs, the United States can and will win,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement. Wright, who has repeatedly called for boosting AI capacity, is visiting the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado today and plans to reveal more information there.

The department said it is looking to enable construction of AI infrastructure by the end of 2025 and start operations at data center sites by the end of 2027.
The DOE sites identified for development are Idaho National Laboratory; the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant; Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant; Argonne National Laboratory; Brookhaven National Laboratory; Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; National Energy Technology Laboratory; National Renewable Energy Laboratory; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory; Los Alamos National Laboratory; Sandia National Laboratories; Savannah River Site; Pantex Plant; and the Kansas City National Security Campus.

The plan aims to address one of the largest challenges facing the energy sector: how to find enough electricity to support a technology boom and ensure the United States stays competitive with China in developing AI technologies. According to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, data centers could consume roughly 12 percent of U.S. electricity by 2028.

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The new RFI doesn’t outline in detail which power sources might fuel data centers on federal land but said new infrastructure could “accelerate deployment of key technologies like nuclear, geothermal, and energy storage.” DOE said it was looking to “fast track permitting” for technologies like advanced nuclear.