NextEra Energy Resources, Related Companies, Lewis Energy Group, and Related Digital announced Project Star on September 30, 2026: a more than $22 billion energy-infrastructure and data-center campus in Encinal, La Salle County, Texas. The selection was made jointly by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Government of the Republic of Korea, making it one of the most consequential bilateral infrastructure commitments in recent memory. The project was first reported by NextEra Energy's investor relations release, with additional coverage from the U.S. Department of Commerce and Investing.com.

NextEra Energy Resources and Related Companies intend to jointly develop, construct, and operate approximately 6.47 gigawatts of natural-gas-fired combined-cycle generation. Lewis Energy Group is contributing the land, produced-water infrastructure, and Texas natural-gas supply. On an adjacent site, Related Digital is developing a privately financed 5-gigawatt data-center campus that the generation assets are intended to support, with excess power delivered to the grid.

The announcement does not specify data-center building count, square footage, acreage, or a named anchor tenant, and no construction permit, air permit, or interconnection approval has been reported as granted.

NextEra Energy Resources is one of the largest wholesale generators of renewable and natural-gas power in North America, operating at utility scale across the United States. Related Companies is a privately held real estate and infrastructure development firm with a national portfolio; its affiliate Related Digital is leading the data-center campus development. Lewis Energy Group is a San Antonio-based independent oil-and-gas producer with deep operational roots in South Texas, specifically in the Eagle Ford and other tight-gas plays, making it a natural fit as the local land, gas, and water partner.

Six-plus gigawatts of combined-cycle generation is roughly the output of six large gas-fired power plants built as a single campus. That is not a data-center power deal; it is a utility-scale generation buildout that happens to have a data-center anchor tenant. The engineering, procurement, and construction complexity is closer to building a mid-size power authority than to a conventional hyperscale campus. Turbine sourcing, water treatment, pipeline tie-ins, and substation design all move on generation timelines, not IT timelines. Project teams that have only built data centers will need generation-side operators and EPC firms alongside them from day one.

La Salle County is rural South Texas. Encinal has no established data-center labor ecosystem, and the announcement identifies no existing hyperscale construction workforce or building-trades agreement in the area. The most transferable local pool comes from Eagle Ford oil-and-gas operations: pipeline, mechanical, civil, and electrical trades experienced in large industrial plant work. Lewis Energy Group's presence means gas-infrastructure contractors will have a familiar client relationship, which can accelerate early civil and utility work.

The gap is significant, however. Oil-and-gas field experience does not translate directly into data-center commissioning, controls integration, or the precision electrical work that hyperscale facilities demand. San Antonio, roughly 100 miles northeast, and Laredo, roughly 55 miles southwest, are the nearest metros capable of drawing skilled craft labor at scale. For specialized roles, the project will almost certainly need to import and house a large share of its commissioning engineers, controls technicians, and hyperscale-specific electrical contractors. Camp-style workforce housing and regional recruiting pipelines will not be optional; they will be foundational to keeping the 2029 initial-generation target credible.

For a full breakdown of roles, compensation benchmarks, and where the talent is likely to come from, see our guide to hiring data center talent for Project Star. Sources: NextEra Energy investor relations, which first reported the announcement, and the U.S. Department of Commerce fact sheet and Investing.com.