A Florida energy developer is betting big on Louisiana’s power-hungry future, rolling out plans for about 5 gigawatts of natural-gas plants, battery storage and a proposed advanced nuclear campus aimed at data centers and heavy industry.
ONE Nuclear Energy LLC described its “Louisiana Portfolio” as three separate but linked developments: Project Cayman, Project Amberjack and the Barracuda Energy Park and Technology Campus. The announcements come just weeks after shareholders approved a merger with Hennessy Capital Investment Corp. VII that’s expected to take ONE Nuclear public later this year.
Gas and batteries first, nuclear as the long game
Project Cayman is the biggest near-term piece. It calls for 2.88 GW of natural-gas generation paired with a 700 MW/2.88 GWh battery system and the option to add a large data-center campus on the same site. The company says it locked up the land through a binding letter of intent with a group of Louisiana landowners and that the site sits near the RiverPlex MegaPark, not far from where SpaceX has been expanding its own footprint.
Barracuda, outlined as part of the broader portfolio, adds roughly 1.2 GW of modular natural-gas generation, about 300 MW/1.2 GWh of four-hour battery storage and up to around 1 GW of critical IT data-center capacity. ONE Nuclear is designing Barracuda as an integrated energy park and technology campus aimed at hyperscale and other large data-center users.
Project Amberjack is the nuclear piece: a proposed small modular reactor campus targeting up to 1 GW of advanced nuclear generation. The company says it has site control and is now moving into technical and environmental work—land and geotechnical studies, cooling-water and logistics checks, and transmission and interconnection analysis.
“Amberjack is the clearest expression of who ONE Nuclear is and why the company was created,” Chris Hansmeyer, ONE Nuclear’s chief development officer, said in a statement. “This is not a conceptual pin on a map. We control the site, have completed initial siting work, and have defined the path into engineering, community engagement and federal licensing.”
Local outreach, no shovels yet
Company officials are quick to say none of these projects have reached a final investment decision or started construction. How much gets built, with what technology and in what configuration will depend on customer deals, utility requirements, interconnection studies, environmental reviews, permitting and financing.
ONE Nuclear plans a string of public information meetings with local parishes, government agencies and other stakeholders from September through December 2026, with the first expected in October. Hansmeyer told the Ascension Business Report that the preferred sites are near the Ascension–Iberville parish line and that the company intends to spend the next three months “firmly engaged in the community” before locking in final locations.
“This is the site that shows the highest potential, but that potential doesn’t have value until we get partnership with the parish and the local community,” Hansmeyer said.
Based on industry benchmarks rather than project-specific estimates, ONE Nuclear says Project Cayman could represent roughly $4 billion to $6.5 billion in capital investment, supporting 1,500 to 2,500 construction jobs at peak and 125 to 200 permanent positions. Amberjack, if built as a two-unit SMR campus on about 750 acres, could entail $8 billion to $12 billion in investment, with 2,500 to 3,000 peak construction workers and 300 to 450 permanent jobs, the company says.
Regulatory hurdles for the nuclear piece
Amberjack’s nuclear component faces a longer road. ONE Nuclear says the work done so far does not amount to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission site approval, a reactor license, environmental authorization or a final engineering decision. The next phase will focus on pre-application readiness with the NRC and other agencies, alongside continued engagement with local and state stakeholders.
Taylor said nuclear power is central to ONE Nuclear’s long-term strategy, while natural gas and batteries can deliver power sooner as nuclear projects move through lengthier development and regulatory processes.
“Our long-term focus is on sustainable energy through nuclear SMR projects, and we believe nuclear is going to be the cheapest, the cleanest technology to provide reliable baseload energy in the long term, and our customers want nuclear power longer term, but they need power today,” Taylor said.
Louisiana is not alone in turning to natural gas as power demand grows. In Oklahoma, the Grand River Dam Authority recently completed a $525 million project at its Grand River Energy Center, adding a 426-MW fast-start natural-gas unit to its generation fleet. The project shows how utilities are adding flexible gas capacity as they adapt to changing grid conditions, a trend also reflected in ONE Nuclear’s plans for Cayman and Barracuda.
Additionally, the push to secure power for large data centers is also emerging across the country. In Pennsylvania, Aligned Data Centers has broken ground on Project Phoenix, a planned 2-gigawatt campus in Shippingport. The three-facility development will use a dedicated onsite power source rather than relying on the local grid, highlighting another approach to meeting the electricity needs of large-scale digital infrastructure.
At a glance: ONE Nuclear’s Louisiana plans
- Total planned capacity: About 5 GW across three projects
- Project Cayman: 2.88 GW natural-gas generation, 700 MW/2.88 GWh battery storage, potential co-located data-center campus; site control via binding LOI; public meetings planned September–December 2026
- Barracuda Energy Park and Technology Campus: ~1.2 GW natural-gas generation, ~300 MW/1.2 GWh battery storage, up to ~1 GW critical IT data-center capacity
- Project Amberjack: Up to 1 GW advanced SMR nuclear generation; site control achieved; entering technical and environmental studies and NRC pre-application work
- Construction status: No construction decisions announced; final configurations contingent on permits, interconnection, financing and customer agreements
Leave a Reply