TEXAS — Along with growing demands for energy in Texas, experts say tropical storms and hurricanes pose a major threat to the Texas power grid, often causing prolonged power outages. NRG Energy executives say a new natural gas plant on Tomball Parkway in Houston is prepared to keep the power on in thousands of homes across the state during those weather events.
NRG cut the ribbon on its T.H. Wharton Generating Station, a 456-megawatt facility with two natural gas units, on Thursday, July 23, during what forecasters called one of Texas’ hottest days on record so far this year. During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, officials recognized the many partnerships and employees involved in the construction and opening of the facility.
“It’s the first power plant we’ve built in over a decade,” said Matthew Pistner, the president of NRG Wholesale, adding that the company now runs 38 plants across the country, including 30 natural gas plants. “As electricity demand goes up, plants like this need to be built to keep up with that demand.”
In addition to a boom in data centers occurring across Texas, Pistner says the growing population is adding to the demand for more energy, which is especially vital during the hottest and coldest days and hurricane season. Most recently, preparations were made ahead of the potential impact of Tropical Storm Bertha.
“We have a severe weather preparation plan. For this time of year, it’s typically hurricanes. We can run five to seven days without the ability to move things in and out of the plant,” Pistner said. “We have about 2 million customers in the state of Texas. This plan behind will support about 100,000 homes.”
Pistner said the plan also focuses on employee and community safety, and he said the facility is well-equipped to take on hurricane-force winds.
“The design parameters are set up to handle all the conditions that this plant may see over its 25-year life. If a Cat 5 storm is 125 miles an hour, we design this to take 125-mile winds so that it can stay standing and operating in those conditions,” he said. “We always have an eye towards reliability, affordability and sustainability. It’s those three things that come together to make sure that the power is available when we need it.”