Seoul, Washington pick Texas power plant as 1st project under strategic investment

By Kang Yoon-seung SEOUL, Oct. 1 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States have formally selected a gas-fired power plant project in Texas as the first project under Seoul's US$350 billion investment commitment to the U. S., the industry ministry said Thursday. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources announced the three projects, including the Texas plant, after the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding in November last year, under which South Korea pledged to invest in the United States in return for lower U. S. tariffs on Korean imports. The formal announcement also comes hours after U. S. President Donald Trump unveiled South Korea's U. S. investment projects at the White House. "As taxpayers' money will be injected into the initiative, we have placed top priority on the commercial viability of the projects and the national interest to ensure that not a penny goes to waste," Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan told reporters during a briefing. Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan briefs the parliamentary trade committee on the details of South Korea's investment plans for the United States at the National Assembly in Seoul, in this file photo from Sept. 22, 2026. (Yonhap) "We held consultations with the U. S. side while carefully examining the profitability and risks of each project, the prospects for recovering the investment and opportunities for South Korean companies," Kim added. The gas-fired combined-cycle power plant project in Texas, dubbed "Project Star," calls for the construction of a 6,472-megawatt power plant for artificial intelligence (AI) data centers at a cost of $22.3 billion. The Texas plant is scheduled to begin the first phase of commercial operations in 2029, with full operations targeted for 2032. South Korea also announced "Project Power," under which Seoul will spend up to $120 billion to build eight nuclear reactors through a bilateral framework for cooperation in the nuclear energy industry. The industry ministry said the project will involve $100 billion in construction costs and a $20 billion contingency fund. The project also seeks to enable South Korean companies to acquire stakes in U. S. energy firm Westinghouse and share in the profits generated by the reactors, with the detailed terms to be worked out among the companies involved. The industry ministry, however, noted that the framework provides only broad guidelines and that the two countries have not yet agreed on specific nuclear reactor projects, with details to be discussed later. Seoul additionally unveiled "Project North," which centers on reviewing the possible construction of pipelines and a terminal for the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry in Alaska. Seoul and Washington plan to review the project's commercial viability before deciding whether to proceed. colin@yna.co.kr(END)