US power producer NextEra Energy has teamed up with oil and gas major ExxonMobil to build a 1.2GW natural gas power plant to serve the US data center sector.

The plant would be integrated with carbon capture and sequestration technology. The initial proof-of-concept site is located close to Exxon's carbon dioxide pipeline infrastructure in the Southeastern US. The companies have acquired a 2,500-acre plot of land for the facility.

According to reports, the partners plan to market the site to a hyperscale data center developer in Q1 2026.

“Based on our work with hyperscalers to date, we think this is going to turn out to be an attractive site, and there's more to come with ExxonMobil if we're able to prove out demand at this site,” NextEra CEO John Ketchum said during a call with investors.

The announcement is part of a broader move by NextEra to support data center growth across the US. To do so, the company has increasingly turned to natural gas as the solution, with it slated to build 15GW of capacity for data center hubs by 2035.

To support this, the company announced that it will acquire Symmetry Energy Solutions to increase its gas capabilities, set to be completed in Q1 2026. The natural gas supply company supplies roughly 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas annually to more than 5,500 large customers across 34 states.

In addition, NextEra signed an MoU with the Basin Electric Power Cooperative to explore the joint development of a new combined-cycle natural gas-fueled generation facility in Basin Electric's North Dakota service territory. If built, the project developed under Basin Electric's Large Load Commercial Program would power a “multi-gigawatt data center campus.”

The plant would have a capacity of 1.45GW. The companies submitted an application to evaluate interconnection and transmission requirements for the project in October.

"NextEra Energy Resources is excited to collaborate with Basin Electric and its cooperative members to deliver a cost-effective American energy solution that supports innovation and economic growth," said NextEra Energy Resources president and CEO Brian Bolster. "This structure where data centers essentially fund their own generation, which we are using nationwide, and most recently in Iowa at our Duane Arnold facility, enables North Dakota to attract technology infrastructure, creating thousands of jobs and billions in economic impact."

The announcements come hot on the heels of a major partnership between NextEra and Google. The deal, signed earlier this week, will see the companies partner on the development of several gigawatt-scale data center campuses and the associated generation and capacity needed to power them.

The companies are currently developing the first three campuses and are collaborating to identify additional locations and expansion plans. Details on any of the campuses were not shared.

Over the past year, ExxonMobil has increased its focus on the data center sector. Last month, its CEO Darren Woods said that the company was in advanced talks with power providers and tech firms to supply data centers with natural gas plants integrated with carbon capture and storage systems. Last December, the company revealed plans for a new 1.5GW natural gas-fired power plant dedicated to powering data centers. The project is in the early stages of development. It would mark the first time Exxon has built a power plant that does not supply energy to its own operations.