Dive Brief:
- Entergy Texas on Tuesday said it has filed a proposal with state regulators to build two new gas-fired power plants totaling 1.2 GW, with a planned in-service date by 2028. The utility says it must increase its generating capacity by 40% over the next four years to meet “extraordinary economic and population growth” in its service territory.
- Entergy said Thursday it will need an additional 1,600 MW of generation by 2028, along with transmission and grid hardening investments to maintain reliability in Southeast Texas. The utility will give additional details on its plans in the coming months, it said.
- Entergy’s plan has drawn support from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. As the state’s population grows, “so does our need for more dispatchable, reliable power to help businesses in Southeast Texas and across our great state thrive,” Abbott said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
More than 42 GW of gas capacity have been proposed for Texas, reflecting increased electricity demand associated with growth in population and industry, including data centers and electrification.
Most of the state is served by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, where developers are applying for $5 billion in low-interest loans backed by the Texas Energy Fund voters authorized in November. Entergy Texas participates in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator market, but has indicated it will leverage grants from non-ERCOT portions of the fund “to make necessary resiliency investments at an affordable cost.”
Entergy’s proposed Lone Star and Legend gas plants would require a more than $2 billion investment by the utility.
- The 754-MW, $1.46 billion Legend Power Station is a combined cycle combustion turbine facility proposed for Port Arthur, Texas. The project includes carbon capture technology and a hydrogen-capable combustion turbine.
- The 453-MW, $753 million Lone Star Power Station is a combustion turbine facility proposed near Cleveland, Texas, and will also include a hydrogen-capable turbine.
The proposed plants “will address the critical need for increased power generation capacity, support increased economic activity throughout the region, and pave the way for sustainable energy solutions that will benefit Southeast Texas for decades to come,” Entergy Texas President and CEO Eliecer Viamontes said in a statement.
The plants will bring a total of $2.8 billion in economic benefits to the region, he said. Those benefits would involve increased reliability for projects such as Sempra Infrastructure’s Port Arthur LNG terminal project, which is under construction. The project facilities will include two natural gas liquefaction trains and construction of new gas pipelines.
“We are pleased to see Entergy Texas progress its initiatives to serve Southeast Texas through additional power generation, and especially through the eventual utilization of low carbon solutions, including carbon capture, hydrogen generation and renewables,” Justin Bird, CEO of Sempra Infrastructure and executive vice president at Sempra, said in a statement.
Entergy Texas has been adding resources in recent years. These include starting operations at a new 993-MW gas plant, contracting a 150-MW solar facility and beginning construction on a 1,215-MW gas plant. “But that’s still not enough to support the extraordinary growth we’re seeing in Southeast Texas,” Viamontes said.
