CPS Energy has notified ERCOT it plans to “indefinitely suspend operations” at three aging gas-fired units in 2025, further reducing the Texas grid’s thermal capacity. 

The San Antonio municipality filed a notification of the suspension with the Texas grid operator March 13. The three steam turbines at the V.H. Braunig facility have a combined summer seasonal net maximum sustainable rating of 859 MW. 

CPS Energy says the units are nearing the end of their operational lives. The first unit came online in 1966, and the other two followed in 1968 and 1970. Four smaller gas turbines at the site each have a nameplate capacity of 61 MW.  

The municipality has made a concerted effort in recent years to meet the city’s climate goals and maintain reliability with a fuel mix that relies on clean energy, storage and gas resources. Its Board of Trustees approved a generation plan last year that shifts the utility away from coal power by retiring one unit at its J.K. Spruce plant by the end of 2028 and converting another to run on natural gas. 

CPS Energy decommissioned two coal-fired units at its J.T. Deely plant in 2018. 

ERCOT is accepting comments through April 3 as it conducts a study to determine whether the closure will lead to reliability issues. 

The grid operator began the year with 15.5 GW of interconnection requests from gas resources. Most of those are for quick-starting combustion turbine or combined cycle units. 

Texas voters in November approved a proposition that creates the Texas Energy Fund, a $7.2 billion low-interest loan program intended to develop up to 10 GW of natural gas plants. (See 2023 Elections Bring Billions for Texas Gas, Dem Wins in Virginia, NJ.)