BRIEFINGS · Capacity
NextEra joins a 6.47 GW Texas gas campus sized for a 5 GW data-center plan
On 30 September 2026 Commerce and Korea selected Related and NextEra Energy Resources, with Lewis Energy, for Project Star in Encinal: more than $22 billion of energy infrastructure and 6.47 GW of gas generation for an adjacent 5 GW Related Digital campus.
Project Star is a bring-your-own-power plan for South Texas data centers. A joint release on 30 September 2026 said the U.S. Department of Commerce and Korea selected Related Companies and NextEra Energy Resources, with Lewis Energy Group, to build a more-than-$22 billion energy campus in Encinal with 6.47 GW of natural-gas generation.
At full scale, the same release says that generation supports an adjacent privately funded 5 GW Related Digital data-center campus and sends excess power back to the grid. NextEra and Related would develop, build and operate the gas plants; Lewis brings gas and related infrastructure. Initial generating resources are anticipated as early as 2029, subject to permits.
No hyperscaler tenant is named. The map ID is NextEra (C041). Related Digital and Lewis Energy stay in prose only.
Why it sits on the AI map: multi-gigawatt generation is being designed next to multi-gigawatt compute, which is how Texas is forcing the power constraint into the project. It is still a selection and a phased target.
Limits: not commercial operation; 2029 is earliest and conditional; $22+ billion is announcement framing; no tenant or chip type. No thesis-row status change. On the map, NextEra moves from no targeting signal to green. Nothing turns red.
What would change the picture: a named hyperscaler lease; a permit grant or denial; first-phase commercial operation; or the joint venture restructuring.
What this doesn't prove
- Selection and development plan; initial generation as early as 2029 subject to permitting.
- 6.47 GW and 5 GW are full-scale figures.
- No hyperscaler tenant or GPU type disclosed.
- Related Digital and Lewis Energy are not assigned map IDs.
Next fixture
- A named hyperscaler lease.
- A permit grant or denial.
- First-phase commercial operation.
- The joint venture restructuring.
Sources
Every figure above comes from these sources. Every briefing is checked against its sources before it publishes. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell anything, and this is not investment advice. See the disclosures.
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