The Texas Municipal Power Agency has pulled the plug on Gibbons Creek. That’s the coal-fired steam plant that provided power to four municipalities in Texas, including Greenville.
Bob Kahm, general manager of the TMPA, says the agency decided last month to take Gibbons Creek offline.
“We filed for indefinite suspension,” Kahm says. “We’re not sure it’ll ever run again."
This is actually the third straight year TMPA has mothballed Gibbons Creek. The Electric Riliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, has been warning of the plant’s obsolescence for years. About a month ago ERCOT warned that unpredictable weather could make Gibbons vulnerable in high-demand months, especially summer.
Gibbons Creek was a supplier of power to the Greenville Electric Utility System, or GEUS. Kahm says with the plant offline, GEUS and the utilities serving Bryan, Denton, and Garland will have already made arrangements to buy power elsewhere.
Representatives from GEUS did not answer calls from KETR.