San Marcos buys share of new power plant

SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) - The city of San Marcos is buying a stake in a new 540-megawatt power plant under construction in Horseshoe Bay.

The natural gas-fired plant being built by the Lower Colorado River Authority will replace the 37-year old Ferguson Power Plant near Lake LBJ. The old 420-megawatt plant will be decommissioned when the new one is fired up sometime next year.

San Marcos is paying about $18 million for its share of the $500 million project.

“The city’s share in the plant will benefit our retail electric distribution system as well as our ratepayers,” said Mayor Daniel Guerrero. “The project will help us maintain stable and competitively priced power costs over the long term.”

The plant will be a combined-cycle plant, which uses a gas turbine system and a steam-cycle system to generate electricity. A combined-cycle power plant uses about 35 percent less fuel than a traditional natural gas-fired plant.