AINEWS
Project Star, a $22.3 billion, 6,472 MW gas fired complex in Encinal, Texas, is the only confirmed project, and the first $2.4 billion payment was wired Thursday.
The $2.4 billion Seoul wired on Thursday is the first payment on Project Star, but it does not buy the full $22.3 billion facility. It funds a 1.4 GW gas-turbine first phase, due online in 2029, and an option on the remaining 4.9 GW of combined-cycle capacity, scheduled for 2032. That staging is what separates a confirmed industrial project from a $350 billion question.
The 6,472 MW gas-fired complex in Encinal, Texas, breaks ground as the first concrete build under the $200 billion tranche of a $350 billion bilateral investment commitment tied to last year's Korea-US tariff deal. The developers are NextEra Energy Resources and Related Companies, with Lewis Energy Group supplying the site, gas, water, and supporting infrastructure. Ownership is split 50/50 between the Republic of Korea and the United States, with 100% of the capital from Seoul. The plant sits adjacent to a 5 GW data center campus being developed by Related Digital, a Related Companies affiliate, and that adjacency is the proximate commercial case. Texas Governor Greg Abbott's "bring your own generation" directive to ERCOT, the state's grid operator, is the policy backdrop: large-load customers that want to interconnect must bring their own generation. Project Star is built to satisfy that rule.
The commercial case rests on a demand curve the Korean government cites from ERCOT projections of roughly 367.8 GW by April 2032, up from an 85.5 GW August 2023 peak, according to Korea Times coverage of Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan's National Assembly briefing. The Korean government's 20-year return projection for the project, approximately $45.4 billion nominal, is built on that projection, though the calculation methodology has not been publicly disclosed. Whether the first-phase 1.4 GW clears as a viable demand signal is the open commercial question, and the same briefing coverage flagged long-term power purchase agreements as the unresolved piece.
Korean companies are positioning for a role they have not previously held at scale in the US market. Asia News Network reporting cites Korean equipment makers, engineering, procurement, and construction contractors, and maintenance firms as expected to seek contracts on the US gas-power buildout. That language signals opportunity, not awarded scope. If the first phase clears and the combined-cycle expansion proceeds, Korean firms gain a beachhead in a US gas-power market where they have had limited direct involvement to date. The staged build is also the staged opportunity.
The gap between Washington and Seoul on what counts as firm is the part wire coverage has tended to flatten. President Trump presented Project Star, an eight-reactor Korean nuclear program, and an Alaska LNG project as three firm commitments in his announcement. Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan told the National Assembly Trade, Industry, and Energy Committee that only Project Star is confirmed, the eight-reactor nuclear program still requires approval, and the Alaska LNG project remains under commercial assessment. Kim added that Seoul "will not proceed if it is not viable," and pointed to a written joint fact sheet as the binding reference. The Texas plant is the only firm piece, and the headline number readers see is the $22.3 billion facility, not the $350 billion ceiling.
The $2.4 billion first payment, transferred on October 1, is the first material cash under the $200 billion tranche tied to the July 30, 2025 Korea-US trade deal and the November 14, 2025 Strategic Investment MOU. The broader package carries a 15% tariff on most Korean goods as its negotiating anchor. Construction is expected to peak at roughly 8,400 jobs, with about 170 permanent operations roles at the power campus and hundreds more at the adjacent data center campus once the combined-cycle phase is online.
The next gate is concrete: the staged 1.4 GW first phase must reach commercial operations in 2029, and the demand-validation data from those initial years will determine whether the remaining 4.9 GW gets built. The wire is real. The option it bought is conditional.