NextEra Energy working with exxon mobilThe country’s largest oil company will build a large, natural gas-fired data center site for potential technology customers, CEO John Ketchum told investors on Monday.
The 1.2 gigawatt power plant will combine gas production with Exxon’s carbon capture technology to reduce emissions, according to NextEra’s investor presentation.
They plan to market the site to hyperscalers in the first quarter of 2026. Hyperscalers are large technology companies that build data centers to train and run artificial intelligence applications. No deals with hyperscalers have been signed yet.
NextEra and Exxon have secured 2,500 acres of land for the facility. The facility will be located in the Southeast near Exxon’s carbon dioxide pipeline infrastructure, NextEra said.
NextEra stock closed down about 3% on Monday.
Exxon declined to comment on the partnership, but said: “The project is progressing and we are grateful to our partners for adding strategic value.”
Officials told CNBC that the project is a memorandum of understanding in its early stages.
The oil major announced last year that it was developing a natural gas solution for data centers. CEO Darren Woods said in October that Exxon was in advanced discussions with potential customers and partners regarding data centers.
NextEra is the largest renewable energy developer in the U.S., but it’s leaning toward natural gas to meet growing demand from data centers. The utility plans to bring up to 8 gigawatts of gas generation online by 2032 and is developing a pipeline of 20 gigawatts of gas generation.
NextEra plans to build 15 gigawatts of power for data center hubs by 2035, Ketchum said. This includes at least three data center campuses that NextEra is developing. alphabetGoogle.
“A lot of that will start with renewable energy and storage, which I call bridge power,” he said. “We are also planning to supply gas afterwards at the same time.”
The tech sector has primarily secured renewable energy and nuclear power to power data centers to meet climate change goals.
