Front Page || Main Index || Corpus Christi News || Business || Texas || Sports || Entertainment || Selena
Wednesday, Jul. 8, 1998
CPL parent plans new power plant in Valley
$200 million Mission facility to be complete by end of 1999
From staff and wire reports
Central and South West Corp., parent company of Central Power and Light Co., will build a $200 million power plant in Mission to profit from increased demand for electricity in parts of the state, the company said Tuesday.
CSW Energy Inc., a nonutility subsidiary that builds and operates power plants, will begin construction of the 500-megawatt plant next month.
The plant, which will be able to produce enough electricity for about 500,000 homes, is expected to be complete by the end of 1999, but could begin partial operation next summer.
The Rio Grande Valley was chosen for the project, known as Frontera, because it is a rapidly developing area where there is considered to be a shortage of power and transmission lines.
``The Rio Grande Valley has seen rapid growth over the last few years and is expected to need more power to meet its requirements,'' Central and South West President and Chief Executive Terry Dennis.
The plant is being built without long-term power purchase contracts as a merchant power plant. It will be CSW Energy's third such plant in Texas.
As a wholesale provider of electricity, the Valley plant won't serve CPL or its Corpus Christi customers, but could sell wholesale electricity to CPL on an emergency basis.
Dallas-based Central and South West, which had 1997 revenues of $5.27 billion, has four electric utility subsidiaries with 1.7 million customers in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas. The company also has an electric company with 2 million customers in the United Kingdom, and owns a stake in a Brazilian utility.
Central and South West is waiting for federal and state regulators' approval of its acquisition by American Electric Power Co., an Ohio-based utility that sells power in seven U.S. states and the U.K.
Bloomberg Business News and staff writer Jeffrey Tomich contributed to this report.Post your comments about local news eventsFront Page || Main Index || News || Business || Texas || South Texas Outdoors || Birdwatching || Sports || Entertainment || Selena || Education || South Texas Attractions || World Wide Web