The Kentucky Lantern, an independent and nonpartisan news service situated in Frankfort, has reported on a significant development in Russell. The town’s mayor was informed in June via email from a consultant about a plan by a Barcelona company to construct a two-gigawatt data center. This project is proposed for the old AK Steel site.
The data center project spans a hefty budget of $8-$12 billion. It is poised to utilize more than 10% of Kentucky’s summer electricity supply. The announcement came under the shadow of a recently enacted moratorium in Russell, raising initial concerns for the project.