Texas heat brings power plants out of mothballs

August 17, 2011 Joseph Ajao

4 power plants revived to combat record heat

Houston-area units among those firing up to boost grid

By Tom Fowler
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

Aug. 16, 2011, 8:02PM

Four mothballed power plants will come back online in the coming weeks to help ensure Texas' main electric grid can handle demand for the rest of the summer.

Two Houston-area plants owned by NRG Energy and two near Dallas owned by Garland Power & Light will return to service at the request of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

NRG says the two natural gas-fired units at the SR Bertron plant in Deer Park along the Ship Channel should be up and running by Sept. 1. The units, with a combined generating capacity of 292 megawatts, were taken offline in 2010.

Garland Power & Light's two natural gas-fired units, with a combined capacity of 122 megawatts, could be online as early as next week, said utility spokeswoman Elizabeth Kimbrough.