New Era and Vistra sign a 20-year power purchase agreement to energize a 250MW data center in Ector County, Texas with natural gas from an adjacent Odessa plant.

New Era Energy & Digital has signed a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement with Luminant, a Vistra subsidiary, to supply a minimum of 207MW of power for phase one of its Texas Critical Data Center (TCDC) project in Ector County, Texas. The agreement was executed through TCDC PowerCo, a New Era subsidiary.

The power will be delivered from Vistra's 1.1GW natural gas-fired generating facility in Odessa, Texas, located immediately adjacent to the TCDC site. Commercial delivery is scheduled to begin in Q3 2027.

"Having firm, contracted power for phase one in New Era's name is an incredible milestone which we believe materially reduces phase one development risk at TCDC," said Charlie Nelson, chairman and CEO of New Era. "We said last month that holding this power ourselves is what would turn TCDC from a site with a power plan into permitted powered land. That is what this agreement is intended to do. With the land secured, construction permits in hand, phase one power contracted for 20 years, and room to expand to multiple phases, we believe this is an attractive opportunity to any quality tenant currently in the market."

Under the agreement, Vistra will receive a five percent non-voting interest in the data center, which it will acquire upon first power delivery. The deal also grants Vistra a right of first refusal on future development opportunities at TCDC and a right of first offer on certain development opportunities serving other projects.

"Demand for reliable power to support digital infrastructure continues to grow across the United States," said Claudia Morrow, senior vice president of corporate development and strategy at Vistra. "We are pleased to work with New Era on a long-term power arrangement for the TCDC project and to establish a framework that allows us to evaluate additional power opportunities together over time."

The TCDC project originated as a joint venture between New Era Helium and GPU cloud provider Sharon AI. The facility was initially conceived as a 90MW data center but was expanded to 250MW shortly thereafter. In December, New Era acquired Sharon AI's stake for $70 million and purchased an additional 203-acre parcel, bringing the campus to 438 acres total. In April, the company signed a non-binding letter of intent with Stream Data Centers to develop and finance the campus.