Kentucky is getting its first large-scale data center. Here’s why and where
Kentucky is getting in on the data center boom.
Developers with PowerHouse Data Centers, a Virginia-based company, unveiled plans Thursday to build a massive “hyperscale” data center in Jefferson County. It will be the first of its kind in the state. The deal was fueled in part by state tax incentives penned by the state legislature last year.
The facility will need a massive amount of power, 400 MegaWatts in total. That’s enough to power roughly 275,000 homes. The facility is squarely in the power territory of Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities, the state’s largest private power supplier.
PowerHouse is pairing on the venture with Louisville real estate firm Poe Companies.
The project announcement comes amid a boom period for data centers in the United States. Companies hungry for more capacity to power their ventures into artificial intelligence, also known as AI, are opening data centers across the country. It’s fueling a construction boom in certain regions of the country.
Meta, the parent company for social media behemoths Facebook and Instagram, announced plans last year for an $800 million project just across the Ohio River from Louisville in Jeffersonville, Indiana.
The PowerHouse/Poe site will locate in Southwest Jefferson County in the community of Shively, occupying about 153 acres near Jefferson County’s Rubbertown industrial district, according to Louisville television station WDRB. Developers say the site will result in “hundreds” of full-time jobs and up to 1,000 construction jobs.
According to a press release, construction will begin in 2025 and the first building is scheduled to be operational by late 2026.
The “hyperscale” designation refers mainly to the project’s size. IBM defines the term as a “computing environment and architecture that is designed to provide extreme scalability to accommodate workloads of massive scale.
A tenant for the site has yet to be confirmed. Officials with the venture told WDRB that they are “in talks with a handful of well-known technology companies.”
PowerHouse CEO Doug Fleit said in the press release that Louisville, with its proximity to the river and relatively affordable power, was attractive for such a site.
“Louisville offers everything hyperscale users need – immediate and reliable power at very attractive rates, water, connectivity and a business environment that encourages more hyperscale growth in the region,” Fleit wrote.
Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, struck a celebratory chord.
“I worked closely with Secretary Jeff Noel from the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development and top private sector leaders to craft and pass groundbreaking legislation that will spark job creation and expand the tax base, which creates more revenue,” Stivers said. “This project is a game-changer, driving long-term economic growth in our major metropolitan center and boosting Kentucky as a regional business hub.”
The tax incentives, introduced in the Senate’s version of the bill, were crafted carefully to apply only to Louisville-based projects with greater than $450 million investment.
The incentive law exempts computer equipment and other related item purchases from the sales tax for 50 years.
