Wood County Electric Cooperative to Benefit from Arkansas Coal Plant
East Texas Electric Cooperative, Inc. (“ETEC”), a generation and transmission electric cooperative headquartered in Nacogdoches, Texas, recently announced that it has purchased an ownership interest in a 665 megawatt pulverized coal plant being developed in northeast Arkansas. Construction on the project is expected to commence immediately and commercial operation is expected to begin in 2010.
ETEC will use the output of the project to serve its three member cooperatives: Northeast Texas Electric Cooperative, Inc., Sam Rayburn G&T Electric Cooperative, Inc., and Tex-La Electric Cooperative of Texas, Inc. The ETEC members serve ten distribution cooperatives that supply power to retail consumer-members in the northeast portion of Texas and a small area of Louisiana. According to Edd Hargett, ETEC’s General Manager, “this project will be used by ETEC to replace power currently purchased under contracts that will expire in 2010. ETEC’s mission is to provide reliable, competitively priced power to its members. Participation in this project will further that goal.”
Plum Point Energy Associates, L.P., an affiliate of LS Power Group of St. Louis, Missouri, will own a 62.85% ownership interest in the project. Another LS Power affiliate will manage construction and operation of the project. In addition to ETEC, the Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission and Empire District Electric Company bought ownership interests in the project.
Wood County Electric Cooperative is served by Northeast Texas Electric and Tex-La of Texas and will benefit from the availability of coal the new plant will provide.
Wood County Electric Cooperative serves over 30,000 meters in nine counties throughout northeast Texas including Camp, Franklin, Hopkins, Rains, Smith, Titus, Upshur, Van Zandt, and Wood County.
