NextEra eyes nuclear power expansion as data center pipeline grows

By Pooja Menon and Laila Kearney

Jan 27 (Reuters) – NextEra Energy is considering expanding its nuclear fleet to deliver electricity to data centers, with the giant U.S. power provider saying on Tuesday that it is in advanced discussions to power an additional 9 gigawatts of the server warehouses.

Big Tech’s data centers are driving up U.S. power demand, leading to historic deals with the country’s electric utilities, including the revival of multiple shut nuclear power facilities.

Last year, NextEra announced that it would restart its Duane Arnold nuclear power generating station in Iowa to serve Google data centers. 

NextEra, on a call with investors on Tuesday, said it has the ability to add 6 gigawatts of new nuclear technologies to serve data centers at its existing nuclear sites. It is also considering greenfield sites to build advanced nuclear power.

The company narrowly beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday, helped by steady growth at its regulated Florida utility and a record year for renewable energy and battery storage additions, as electricity demand surges across the United States.

Power consumption in the U.S. is expected to hit fresh all-time highs in 2026 as data centers for AI and cryptocurrency expand and homes and businesses increasingly replace fossil fuels with electricity for heating and transportation, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Florida Power & Light, the company’s regulated utility, posted a net income of $958 million, up 13.4% from a year earlier, driven by higher capital investment.

In Florida, NextEra has about 20 gigawatts of data center customers interested in connecting to its system. Nearly half of those are in advanced discussions, with the potential to come online by 2028, the company said.

The company added that there will be some announcements in 2026, based on the interest that it is seeing on the ground in Florida.

NextEra Energy Resources, the company’s renewable energy arm, added about 13.5 gigawatts of new generation and battery storage projects to its backlog in 2025, including 3.6 GW since the third-quarter call in October last year. The unit’s total backlog now totals roughly 30 GW.

The segment reported a net income of $545 million in the fourth quarter, compared with a loss of $442 million a year ago.

NextEra reaffirmed its adjusted earnings forecast for 2026 to be between $3.92 and $4.02 per share and said it expects to grow adjusted earnings at an annual rate of 8% or more through 2032, while targeting dividend growth of about 10% per year through 2026.

The company earned 54 cents per share on an adjusted basis for the quarter ended December 31, compared with analysts’ average estimate of 53 cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

(Reporting by Pooja Menon in Bengaluru and Laila Kearney in New York; Editing by Tasim Zahid, Alexandra Hudson)