Competitive Power Ventures Basin Ranch will build the plant, which is expected to begin generating power for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas power region in 2029.
________________________________________________
Another subsidized loan agreement under the Texas Energy Fund — the fifth to date — has been announced by Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Public Utility Commission.
The Texas Energy Fund is a $10 billion subsidy program created by the Texas Legislature to help finance the development of dispatchable generation. State lawmakers established the program in the aftermath of Winter Storm Uri that led to statewide outages.
The newest loan agreement is for a 1,350 megawatt (MW) natural gas power plant in Ward County. Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) Basin Ranch will build the plant, which is expected to begin generating power for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas power region in 2029.
The facility has the largest capacity of any Texas Energy Fund project to date. Once connected, the CPV project will become one of the largest sources of dispatchable generation capacity for the ERCOT grid, according to the Public Utility Commission.
Agency chair Thomas Gleeson said that with the addition of the CPV facility, the TEF has now financed more than 3,100 megawatts of new dispatchable power.
The Details
Under the loan agreement, total project costs are estimated to be $1.88 billion. The PUC is providing a 20-year Texas Energy Fund loan of $1.12 billion, or 60 percent of the total project cost, at a 3 percent interest rate. The loan term runs from Oct. 28, 2025, through Oct. 28, 2045.
The natural gas generation facility will be built at CPV’s Basin Ranch Energy Center in Ward County. The project will interconnect in the ERCOT West Load Zone.
Other Projects
There are 12 other Texas Energy Fund In-ERCOT Generation Loan Program applications awaiting approval. Together, the projects represent 5,861 MW ofnew dispatchable generation for the ERCOT grid.
Other plants so far financed by the TEF include:
- A 721-megawatt plant by NRG Energy to be located near Baytown.
- A 460-MW natural gas-fired plant by Calpine Energy to be located near Fairfield, Texas.
- A 456-megawatt natural gas power plant by NRG Energy to be located in Houston.
- A 122-megawatt natural gas-fired facility by the Kerrville Public Utility Board to be located in Colorado County west of Houston.
Additional information about the Texas Energy Fund and the In-ERCOT Generation Loan Program is available on the PUC website.