New Era Energy & Digital Data Center, Lea County, New Mexico

Midland, Texas-based New Era Energy & Digital has a land option on about 3,500 acres near the unincorporated community of Caprock in Lea County, New Mexico, and proposes a data center campus of up to 7 gigawatts for artificial intelligence. The company, previously called New Era Helium until it rebranded in August 2025, announced the plan in November 2025. Chief executive E. Will Gray II told the Albuquerque Journal the site, about 45 minutes east of Roswell, is on private land and would need federal and state permits before construction.

New Era says the site would be powered by more than 2 gigawatts of natural gas generation plus a planned nuclear installation of 5 gigawatts or more, with the reactor technology still being chosen. Spokesman Jonathan Paterson told the Roswell Daily Record the campus would be built in "tranches" as partners agree to lease parts of it. "I think in terms of a budget or cost, we will know more later on," Paterson said.

Lea County officials learned of the plan from New Era's news release, and County Manager Corey Needham said no commissioner had met with the company: "I can say there have been high-level discussions with some data center developers, but we haven't spoken to them (New Era)." Water and power are the county's biggest worries; at a January 2026 meeting, Xcel Energy's James Lackey said the utility was about 7,500 megawatts short of regional power demand, a gap that could grow to 20,000 megawatts within 10 years. Commission chair Tyson Pierce said the water table at his house "has dropped considerably," and that the commission would do everything in its power "to come out on top, no matter what."

In February 2026 the county commission adopted its first data center rules: banning evaporative cooling, requiring annual water use reports, and requiring any project to either build its own power or negotiate with utilities so its load does not raise other customers' rates. Any project seeking industrial revenue bonds or tax breaks must share those payments with every school and hospital district in the county. Commissioner Dee Ann Kimbro said: "I like this. I like that we are doing this. I think it is a great deal."

Needham said commissioners will not be involved in New Era's project until "much later stages," and any tax deal the company seeks will have to meet the county's February water and power rules, reviewed by the Board of County Commissioners that Pierce chairs. New Era has not released a budget, tenant list or site plan for the Caprock campus.