announced<\/a> on Tuesday that NRG Energy will build a $360 million natural gas facility in Harris County.<\/p>\nThe 456-megawatt plant at the TH Wharton Generating Station qualifies for the state\u2019s Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation program. The expansion addresses surging electricity demand in Houston, the nation\u2019s fifth-largest metropolitan area. Construction aims to bolster grid reliability as Texas faces growing energy needs from population growth and industrial development.<\/p>\n
\u201cTexas energy powers our state\u2019s booming economy,\u201d said Abbott. \u201cThis $360 million investment by NRG in Harris County is a significant advancement in Texas\u2019 energy infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The facility will serve the Houston Load Zone, including Pasadena and The Woodlands. Operations are expected to begin by summer 2026.<\/p>\n
Abbott emphasized the project\u2019s role in grid stability.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy investing in reliable, dispatchable energy, we will add more power and better fortify our grid.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Public Utility Commission of Texas approved a Texas Energy Fund loan agreement for the project in August. The simple-cycle plant will create construction jobs and permanent positions once operational.<\/p>\n
Robert Gauddette, NRG\u2019s executive vice president, praised the public-private partnership.<\/p>\n
\u201cMoving Texas forward to meet surging energy demand involves public-private partnership, and NRG is grateful the TH Wharton new build project is part of Governor Abbott\u2019s innovative JETI program.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District supports the expansion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe TH Wharton project will accommodate the growing energy demand in the district and Houston area,\u201d said district Chief Financial Officer Karen Smith.<\/p>\n
Natural gas plants provide quick-start power generation critical for grid stability. The facility adds to Texas\u2019s dispatchable energy resources amid concerns about renewable intermittency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"nrg-energy-to-build-$360M-natural-gas-plant-houston @LightbridgeCorpX Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced on Tuesday that NRG Energy will build a $360 million natural…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[12834,451,392,405,56,58,57,12833,3621,12835],"class_list":["post-15936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-electricity-demand","tag-energy","tag-greg-abbott","tag-harris-county","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-nrg-energy","tag-technology","tag-texas-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}