Brookfield and Drax Plan a £20 Billion AI Campus at Britain's Biggest Power Station, as The Post Tallies Big Tech's Gas Plants and a $55 Billion Grid Bill Comes Due
Tuesday, November 3, 2026 · 10 min
Drax, Brookfield and Radiant propose a GW-scale data centre at Drax Power Station starting with 100 MW in 2028, while a Washington Post analysis maps the emissions locked in by tech-backed gas megaplants. Grid Strategies puts a $55 billion, ten-year price on the Senate's data center transmission bill, and OpenAI pitches demand flexibility as its answer to the ratepayer fight.
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Show notes
Drax, Brookfield and Radiant propose a GW-scale data centre at Drax Power Station starting with 100 MW in 2028, while a Washington Post analysis maps the emissions locked in by tech-backed gas megaplants. Grid Strategies puts a $55 billion, ten-year price on the Senate's data center transmission bill, and OpenAI pitches demand flexibility as its answer to the ratepayer fight.
In this episode
- Brookfield targets $27 billion AI data center at power station — CNBC
“Brookfield estimates that total investment, including semiconductors, could exceed £20 billion ($26.8 billion), with an initial £2.5 billion investment as part of phase 1.”
- The tech industry is investing in mega gas plants to power their data centers - Anchorage Daily News — Evan Halper, Kevin Schaul, The Washington Post
“Just two gas projects Amazon recently signed on to, which would power planned data centers in Texas and Pennsylvania, would produce more carbon pollution than the dirtiest facility in the country, the giant James H. Miller Jr. coal plant in Alabama that powers 1 million homes.”
- Data center operators might pay $55 billion under Senate bill | TechTarget — Shane Snider
“Grid Strategies, a consulting firm that specializes in the power sector, estimated in a recently published white paper that the pricing changes would generate approximately $5.5 billion annually in transmission charges, compared with roughly $2 billion that data centers…”
- Introducing the Grid Protectors Program — Openai
“That means designing facilities to reduce electricity use when needed and working with utilities to agree on how much demand can be reduced, how quickly and for how long. The arrangements will differ by location, and we will share additional commitments as they are finalized.”