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The Trump Administration says Japan will provide funds for a $33 billion natural gas plant in southeast Ohio
By: Amanda Pirani
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB/Report for America) — Southeast Ohio is set to receive an investment from Japan for a projected $33 billion natural gas plant, according to an announcement by the Trump administration Tuesday evening.
It’s not yet clear how much of the projects Japan will fund or how much the country will earn from them.
SB Energy, a subsidiary of Japanese tech investor SoftBank Group, will operate the natural gas facility. It will produce up to 9.2 gigawatts of power.
The Trump administration claims it will be the largest natural gas facility in the world.
Phil Flynn, senior analyst at Price Futures Group, said one gigawatt of power could provide energy for about 800,000 homes.
“This project, it should be powering about 7.4 million homes in that regional context … it’s equivalent to supplying electricity for the population of several states,” he said.
A fact sheet from the U.S. Department of Commerce describes the project location as “in the vicinity of Portsmouth, Ohio.” WOUB could not confirm the exact location and did not hear back from the Commerce Department in time for this publication.
The U.S. Department of Energy owns thousands of acres near Piketon at the site of the retired Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. It’s also where Centrus Energy has been operating its American Centrifuge Plant since 2023, enriching uranium for the next generation of nuclear power plants.
A data center may also soon come to the site, and a Silicon Valley company plans to build two nuclear power plants there. Facebook parent Meta announced last month its plans for a multibillion dollar investment in these nuclear plants.
Pike County Commissioner Tony Montgomery said he believes the project will be located in Pike County, but could not say for sure whether the site would be on the federally owned land of the Portsmouth plant or on adjacent privately owned property.
Montgomery is hopeful the project will provide long-term local jobs for the community, which has not seen a major employer since the uranium enrichment plant began the decommissioning process two decades ago.
“Those have always been the best jobs in the area, working at the plant,” he said. “Anything that can help replace those jobs is a bonus.”
Flynn said he believes the project will be a significant source of energy as AI infrastructure like data centers continue to place unprecedented pressure on the nation’s power system.
“The demand for electricity is going to grow by maybe 50% over the next 10 years,” he said.
He added that he believes the project will incentivize more development in Ohio and bring more jobs to the area, because businesses and data centers want to locate where cheap energy is accessible.
“If you have this … center being able to power eight million homes, hey, you know, how many data centers can you power as well?” he asked. “The longer you have to move electricity the more expensive it is, you have to put in pipelines. But if you’re closer to the action, it costs a lot less.”
Reuters reported in January that a large-scale infrastructure project involving SoftBank in data center construction was among other short-listed projects considered under the trade deal.
Montgomery said he welcomes the possibility of new business developments or data centers in the area, especially if the natural gas facility can prevent strain on local resources.
“Hopefully it’s one of those situations where this can provide enough power that when those industries come this way that it’s not going to be a burden on the local citizens,” he said.
Amanda Pirani is WOUB’s Report for America Journalist covering Economic Livelihood. For more information about Report for America, you can click here.
Update (2/18/26 5:48 PM): This story was updated to reflect responses from Pike County Commissioner Tony Montgomery.