U.S.-JAPAN TRADE DEAL COVERS A NEW ENERGY ASSET
Upon acquiring about 700 acres of former coal mines and refuse sites from up to six Pennsylvania landowners, spanning both Luzerne and German townships, NextEra Energy Resources will now pursue development of a natural gas power plant campus. The $13 billion East Riverside Energy Center plans to leverage natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica shale formations to supply its three upcoming plants, which will carry a combined 3.75-gigawatt capacity. Funding for the project comes as a result of the Trump Administration’s March 2026 trade deal with Japan to support national large-scale power infrastructure development. While the U.S. and Japan governments will fund the project via a special-purpose vehicle, NextEra will develop and operate the complex. The facilities will be built out in phases with the first to open in 2030 and campus completion to be reached in 2032. Up to 2,000 construction roles will be created. Electricity produced by the company will be sent to the PJM Interconnection regional grid through existing transmission lines, in addition to serving data center and industrial customers.
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CRAFTING LONG-TERM TECHNICAL CAPACITY
A new AI data center is heading to the South Savo region in southeastern Finland in the city of Mikkeli. The $1.1 billion project is backed by a partnership between Cerebras Systems and Norway-based data center developer Compute Nordic Finland. “This partnership with Cerebras is not a speculative bet on future demand — it’s a contractually committed, phased build-out that reflects exactly how much AI compute the market needs today and where that need is heading,” said Compute Nordic Finland CEO Pyry Virrantaus. The agreement centers on a series of seven-year contract service orders, enabling Cerebras to provide purpose-built infrastructure to the Mikkeli region while serving global demand. The planned 165-megawatt (MW) data center will run on closed-loop cooling system that is designed to recirculate water, in addition to utilizing waste-heat recovery from the site to generate thermal energy to be used by the community. The project’s initial phase will introduce 50 MW of capacity, later scaling to 80 MW before reaching the expected 165 MW at full build-out.
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HOMEGROWN STEEL FABRICATOR SCALES IN FAYETTEVILLE
Last week, Charlotte-based SteelFab, Inc. announced plans for a $19 million expansion of its North Carolina operations. The Fayetteville site is one of the company’s 15 facilities in the nation delivering up to 2,000 tons of material each week to support commercial and industrial projects. The expansion will enable SteelFab to introduce an additional 108,000 sq. ft. to its current facility, making room for three new fabrication bays, two prep bays, two shape lines and various office spaces. The company has been awarded a $125,000 performance-based grant from the One North Carolina Fund to support the project. “SteelFab looks forward to substantially growing our business in Fayetteville,” said SteelFab Region President Rob Burlington. “The grants from Fayetteville Cumberland County Economic Development Commission and the State of North Carolina were extremely helpful in helping us realize our goal of a new manufacturing facility and growing workforce.”
Reports compiled and written by Alexis Elmore
