It will also help keep the air conditioners humming and the lights shining for about three-quarter million families in Central and North Texas.
Panda Energy Inc. will build, own and operate the plant on a 250-acre site, now a cornfield, in the South Temple Industrial Park off Lorraine Avenue. Nearby transmission lines, already in use, will be used to deliver the electricity.
Temple Economic Development Corp. President Lee Peterson said the generating station was good for Temple’s short- and long-term economic health.
“This power plant will provide the electricity we need to locate future industries and jobs in Temple,” said Peterson. “It will enlarge payrolls, expand the tax base, and drive revenues for contractors, engineering firms, hotels and restaurants, retailers and a host of other businesses.”
Tuesday’s announcement was the result of several years’ work by Temple officials, spanning the era when Enron Corp. went bankrupt and energy giant TXU was bought by a private investor and backed off on plans to build almost a dozen coal-fired power plants in Texas.
Before selecting Panda, a team of city officials visited a plant built by the company in Maryland that provides 10 percent of the electricity of Washington, D.C.
“It was a very impressive, clean plant with modern-looking equipment. We went inside one of the turbine cabinets,” said Mayor Bill Jones III. “It helped solidify how clean a facility it is.”
Between 400 and 500 workers will be needed during peak construction phase. When the plant is online, it will take a full-time staff of 70 to run and maintain the facility. According to Panda officials, the plant will infuse about a half million dollars into the area’s economy over a 10-year period.
Before construction begins, Panda has to obtain an air permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, procure financing and receive regulatory approvals. Once these steps are done, building the plant should take about two years (compared to five years to build a coal-fired and 15 for a nuclear plant).
Panda Energy Inc. officials said their natural gas power plant was unlike the lignite and coal-fired powered plants that have drawn heavy criticism from environmentalists.
Tom “Smitty” Smith, director of the Austin office of Public Citizen, a non-profit consumer advocacy group that opposed TXU’s proposed coal-fired plants for Central Texas, said natural gas-fueled plants offered some advantages.
“A new gas plant has far fewer types of toxic emissions than a coal plant, and half the global warming gasses, and since they can be ramped up as needed, they can meet the energy needs of the state with far less pollution,” said Smith. “Gas plants have been stalled in recent years due to rising fuel costs, but over the last two years the cost of coal and nuclear plants have been skyrocketing, making gas plants cost-effective.”
The Temple facility will use a process called “combined-cycle” processing, in which the waste heat is used to generate steam that will produce electricity. It is also very likely they will use treated effluent from a nearby water treatment facility for cooling.
City officials said they have not offered any tax incentives to Panda, but they might consider a 50 percent, 10-year abatement.
