NextEra's Texas AI campus answers to two governments. Its $67 billion merger answers to ratepayers
On the day Washington and Seoul announced the $22.3 billion Project Star gas campus to power Texas AI, twelve lawmakers moved to block NextEra's $67 billion Dominion merger and Florida's governor demanded hyperscalers pay their own way. The growth is going merchant; the politics stays regulated.
Vincent Jiang · 3 min read
The plant two governments will own
At 6:18 p.m. on Wednesday the U.S. Commerce Department and the Republic of Korea named their builders: NextEra Energy Resources and Related Companies, with Lewis Energy Group supplying the land, gas and water for a $22.3 billion, 6.47-gigawatt natural-gas campus in Encinal, Texas 1. The power feeds an adjacent, privately funded 5-gigawatt data center campus, excess generation goes back to the Texas grid, and first units are promised as early as 2029, with the full complex targeted for 2032 12.
The announcement says the campus will be owned jointly by Korea and the United States under their 2025 trade agreement 1. It is the first formal project in a Korean U.S. energy package worth up to $200 billion, beside a framework for eight large nuclear reactors 2.
The merchant half moves off the ratepayer books
That structure answers, in advance, the question being shouted at NextEra's other business. The developers say the project clears Governor Greg Abbott's bar that Texas data centers bring their own generation 1. The terms still carry air: three weeks ago Seoul's Industry Ministry was calling the deal unconfirmed, and no power-purchase agreements, construction schedule or final financing had been published 3. The new plant answers to a trade treaty; the old utility answers to a rate case.
The regulated half took the fire instead
Hours before the Encinal announcement, Senator Elizabeth Warren and eleven colleagues told FERC to block the $67 billion Dominion acquisition if it raises concentration or consumer costs, and to treat the $2.25 billion of promised Dominion bill credits with skepticism 4. A New England attorneys general coalition led by Massachusetts wants the merger stopped; the combined company would control every nuclear plant in the region 5. Shareholders of both companies have already voted yes, targeting a second-half 2027 close 6.
In Florida, where NextEra's FPL serves about 12 million people 1, Governor Ron DeSantis posted Wednesday that utilities should not push hyperscaler costs onto consumers, citing protections "enacted last spring" 78. Those rules required every state utility to file a data center cost plan by 1 October; Tampa Electric filed on Wednesday, advocates say Duke's version would shift billions onto households, and FPL had filed nothing as of Wednesday afternoon 9.
Americans will pay an average of $1,249 for electricity this winter, up more than 30 percent from last year, the National Energy Assistance Directors Association forecasts 4.
The build does not wait for the verdict
NextEra's quarterly capital spending crossed $3 billion in the first quarter of 2026 and ran 38 percent above the prior year by the second 10. Project Star is announced with 8,400 construction jobs at peak and roughly 170 permanent ones 1.
NextEra's quarterly capex crossed $3 billion as the AI build ramped
Data
| Quarterly capex | |
|---|---|
| Q3 '24 | $2.06B |
| Q4 '24 | $1.84B |
| Q1 '25 | $2.5B |
| Q2 '25 | $2.07B |
| Q3 '25 | $2.48B |
| Q4 '25 | $2.22B |
| Q1 '26 | $3.19B |
| Q2 '26 | $2.86B |
NextEra chairman and CEO John Ketchum's answer is in the release: new generation for new demand, which he says strengthens reliability and protects electricity customers 1. Anyone pricing one NextEra share is now pricing two businesses with different owners, regulators and risk. FERC holds the merger, Florida regulators must approve the utility plans before they take effect, and Encinal's first turbines are a 2029 problem 491.
Deepdive
AI-generated from this story and its cited sources. Not investment advice.
