AUSTIN – State off icials marked Texas’ efforts to add new, reliable power plants to support the state’s growing energy needs, with Calpine Corporat ion’s (Ca lpine) Freestone County Energy Center expansion project announcement in Houston.
The expansion project will bring more than 300 new jobs to Freestone County and 425 megawatts of new, dispatchable generation to the Texas electrical grid, according to a press release from Gov. Greg Abbott’s office. These new, dispatchable megawatts accompany an additional 7,000 megawatts of dispatchable generation expected to come online in 2024.
“The bottom line is Texans need more electrical power,” Abbott said at a December 14 event at Calpine’s headquarters in Houston.
“We have a collective responsibility to make sure that we provide the power and electricity to support our growing state by adding new, reliable power plants like this one from Calpine,” Abbot t said. “ This Freestone Energy Center expansion will ensure that reliable power is available in Texas no matter the weather, and I thank Calpine for choosing to expand their Freestone County facility.”
Calpine is America’s largest generator of electricity from natural gas and geothermal resources.
Abbot t , joined by Calpine CEO Thad Hill, Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) President and CEO Pablo Vegas, and other energy leaders, made mention of bills recently signed into law “to ensure they have the tools and strategies needed to generate more power and make our grid more reliable and resilient.”
Abbot t touted Texas’ ongoing partnerships with energy companies to bring more reliable, dispatchable power to Texans across the state. He also outlined proactive measures the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC), Railroad Commission of Texas, and ERCOT have taken to ensure the Texas power grid is ready for winter, including: * Requiring the most robust weather izat ion requi rements in the nation.
* Deploying additional inspectors to ensure compliance with these requirements.
* Identifying and mapping Texas’ critical energy infrastructure.
* Providing mechanisms for bet ter coordination between state resources and personnel and the owners of these assets.
* Incentivizing on-site redundant fuel supplies for dispatchable generation.
The Texas power grid came under heavy scrutiny in February 2021. Powerful Winter Storm Uri killed hundreds of people when both conventional power plants and renewable energy generators failed during days of freezing temperatures, causing ERCOT to order electricity to be cut to millions of Texans to protect the grid from complete collapse.
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