Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday Calpine Corporation’s Freestone County Energy Center expansion project in Houston, which will add more than 425 megawatts to the Texas electrical grid, and more than 300 new jobs for Freestone County.
Calpine is America’s largest generator of electricity from natural gas and geothermal resources, according to a press release from the Office of the Texas Governor.
The governor, who praised the new power supply coming to Texas, was joined by Pablo Vegas, president and CEO of ERCOT, as well as Thad Hill, CEO of Calpine.
“The bottom line is Texans need more electrical power,” Abbott said, in the press release. “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.”
“ERCOT, PUC, and power generators are better prepared this winter than ever before because I signed over a dozen laws to ensure they have the tools and strategies needed to generate more power and make our grid more reliable and resilient. 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.”
In the press release, Abbott outlined the many measures that ERCOT and PUC have taken to ready the Texas power grid to meet demand, including energy infrastructure mapping, deployment of additional compliance inspectors, weatherization said to be the “most robust” in the nation, and more.
ERCOT announced earlier this year that the electrical grid was ready to meet demand for the upcoming winter months, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
