South Korea picks Texas gas plant as first project of $200 billion US investment plan

South Korea has selected a gas-fired combined-cycle power plant in Encinal, Texas, as the first undertaking of its $200 billion strategic investment initiative in the United States, according to Minister of Trade, Industry and Resources Kim Jung-kwan. The plan calls for an initial 1.4 GW gas turbine to gauge actual electricity demand, followed by staged construction of an additional 4.9 GW, bringing total capacity to about 6.3 GW.

Estimated at $22.3 billion, the project is intended to serve Texas’s rapidly expanding power needs, fueled by new semiconductor factories and artificial-intelligence data centers. The South Korean government expects the plant to generate between $43.29 billion and $45.4 billion over a 20-year period, sufficient to recoup the capital and financing outlays. Two further energy ventures are under discussion: a potential 5-10 percent stake in U.S. nuclear firm Westinghouse and a liquefied natural gas development in Alaska.