NextEra Energy Resources and Basin Electric Power Cooperative have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop the River Run Energy Center, a proposed 1,450-megawatt combined-cycle natural-gas power plant designed to support what the partners describe as a multi-gigawatt data-center campus in western North Dakota. The announcement was made in a December 8 release.
Basin Electric’s River Run Energy Center would be constructed within the co-op’s North Dakota service territory and has been framed as a backbone generation investment to serve surging demand from cloud, AI, and hyperscale workloads. The project is structured under Basin Electric’s Large Load Commercial Program, a model in which major energy-intensive customers such as data-center operators underwrite their own generation needs. This, per the joint release, is intended to allow the project to move ahead without increasing electricity rates for the co-op’s existing membership.
Early-Stage but Strategic Milestone
While still in its formative stages, the River Run project cleared a key early hurdle. In October 2025, NextEra Energy Resources and Basin Electric jointly submitted the plant to the Southwest Power Pool’s Expedited Resource Adequacy Study. The regional grid operator’s technical review that evaluates interconnection feasibility and transmission impacts. Final siting, permitting, cost disclosure, and construction timelines will follow study outcomes and subsequent regulatory processes.
The Dec. 8 announcement formalizes the collaboration between one of the nation’s largest renewable and gas-generation developers and one of the largest generation and transmission cooperatives in the Midwest. For Basin Electric—a major power supplier across nine states—the partnership signals continued expansion into large-load energy service at a time when new industrial and digital-infrastructure customers are driving record electricity demand.
Economic and Community Impact
Both companies stressed statewide and local potential benefits. The project is forecasted to support significant job creation, considerable tax revenue. And will also attract additional technology investment to the state, according to the announcement. NextEra Energy Resources said energy-backed technology expansion could bring “thousands of jobs and billions in economic impact” as North Dakota positions itself as an emerging destination for data-center development.
Basin Electric emphasized that its Large Load Commercial Program protects current rural electric cooperative members from rate pressure by ensuring large customers pay their own way. For communities in western North Dakota-already a hub of energy production-the project offers an opportunity to diversify economic activity beyond oil and gas.
River Run Energy Center: A regional pattern of large-power buildout
The River Run Energy Center is not occurring in isolation. Basin Electric is already advancing another major gas-generation project: the 1,490-MW Bison Generation Station. Approved by North Dakota regulators in 2025 and estimated in public filings to approach $4 billion in total investment. That project is slated for operation in 2030. Together, Bison and River Run illustrate the size of new dispatchable power North Dakota is preparing to deploy as data-center interest accelerates across the Upper Midwest.
The 1.45 GW profile of the River Run plant places it amongst the most extensive single natural-gas units proposed in the U.S. this decade. And the only major new facility explicitly tied to a proposed multi-gigawatt data-center hub.
The River Run Energy Center joins a fast-growing list of new combined-cycle projects driven by surging electricity demand from data centers and AI, including the 1,350-MW CPV Basin Ranch Energy Center now under construction in West Texas and Entergy Louisiana’s combined-cycle plant that recently broke ground in Richland Parish.
What Happens Next
NextEra and Basin Electric will base the final investment decision on the Southwest Power Pool study, permitting, financing, and confirmed long-term data-center demand. No public construction timeline or cost estimate exists yet. The partnership’s structure and Basin Electric’s prior large projects signal that River Run Energy Center will anchor North Dakota’s emerging digital-economy infrastructure.
If built, the plant would redefine the state’s energy landscape. Potentially becoming one of its largest power sources and enabling one of the most ambitious data-center development corridors in the region.
River Run Energy Center: Project Factsheet
Project Type: Combined-cycle natural gas power plant
Capacity: 1,450 MW
Location: Western North Dakota
Status: Early development (MOU signed Dec 8, 2025)
Partners
NextEra Energy Resources
Basin Electric Power Cooperative
Purpose
Power source for proposed multi-gigawatt data-center campus. Supports cloud, AI, and hyperscale workloads.
Structure
Built under Basin Electric’s Large Load Commercial Program. Data-center customers pay for their own power. Existing cooperative members protected from rate increases.
Key Details
Submitted to Southwest Power Pool for grid study (Oct 2025)
Among largest natural gas plants proposed in U.S. this decade
Only major facility explicitly tied to multi-GW data-center hub
Economic Impact
Thousands of jobs expected
Billions in economic investment
Substantial tax revenue
Diversifies economy beyond oil and gas
Next Steps
Pending: grid study results, environmental permits, financing, final siting, construction timeline.
Final investment decision depends on study outcomes and regulatory approvals.
Regional Context
Basin Electric also developing 1,490-MW Bison Generation Station ($4B, operational 2030). North Dakota emerging as data-center hub.
