NextEra Energy strikes $66.8 billion deal for Dominion in bets on AI power demand
NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy announced a $66.8 billion merger, forming one of the world's largest electric utilities. This consolidation aims to accelerate power infrastructure development to meet the surging electricity demand from AI-driven data centers, particularly in key regions like Northern Virginia. The deal is contingent on various regulatory approvals.
U.S. power companies NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy announced a $66.8 billion all-stock merger, set to create one of the world's largest electric utilities. This significant transaction, one of the largest-ever energy mergers, is driven by the rapid expansion of energy-intensive data centers supporting artificial intelligence across the country.
NextEra CEO John Ketchum stated that combining the two companies would achieve the speed and scale needed to build more energy infrastructure efficiently and affordably. The merged entity, with an enterprise value of approximately $420 billion, will deliver electricity to much of the U.S. Southeast, including Virginia, which is home to the world's biggest data center hub, Northern Virginia's "Data Center Alley." The companies' executives noted that the deal would enable a swifter build-out of power infrastructure to support about 130 gigawatts of proposed data center electricity demand.
NextEra, already a major energy developer, will gain access to Dominion's portfolio and expand into the 13-state PJM Interconnection region. Dominion currently serves 3.6 million customers in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina and has nearly 51 gigawatts of contracted data center capacity, with customers including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Equinix, CoreWeave, and CyrusOne. NextEra has also partnered with Google to reopen a nuclear plant in Iowa and is developing natural-gas-fired data center hubs in Texas and Pennsylvania.
The merger, which is expected to close in 12 to 18 months, is subject to antitrust review, shareholder approval, and regulatory approvals from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and state utility regulators in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Ketchum will serve as CEO of the combined company, which will operate as NextEra Energy.