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November 11, 2016

BTU Participates in Sale of Gibbons Creek Generating Plant

The Texas Municipal Power Agency was created in 1975 for the purpose of supplying electricity, on a wholesale basis, to its member cities including Bryan. On November 10, 2016, following prior approval of the sale by the member cities, the Board of Directors of TMPA passed a resolution authorizing the TMPA General Manager to sign a contract for the sale of its Gibbons Creek Steam Electric Station in Grimes County, Texas, and the 345 kV portion of its electric transmission system located in Grimes, Brazos, and Robertson counties.

The sale of generating assets is expected to close during the first quarter of 2017 and the sale of transmission assets is expected to close sometime in 2017 following approval of the acquisition by the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

The purchaser of the Electric Station is Clean Energy Technology Association, Inc. (CETA). CETA is an energy technology company with the stated goal of bringing environmentally sustainable and commercially viable solutions to the world’s energy needs. CETA’s mission is to create alternative ways to use fossil fuels, biomass, and other energy resources by inventing, pursuing, and developing technologies that improve the environment and are economically feasible. Headquartered in Fairfield, Texas, CETA will assume operation of the power plant and has indicated that the plant will remain operational.

The purchaser of the transmission assets is GridLiance Texas Transco, LLC. GridLiance is a transmission company that seeks to collaborate with public power, joint action agencies, and electric cooperatives to solve transmission issues and manage transmission costs.

Following these asset sales, TMPA will continue to own and operate the previously closed Gibbons Creek lignite mine site and the remaining electric transmission facilities in Grimes County and in the Bryan, Denton, Garland, and Greenville areas.

“This agreement is very positive for BTU and our customers,” said Gary Miller, BTU General Manager. “Gibbons Creek has been a great asset to all of the partners of TMPA for the last 30 years. We have reached a very advantageous agreement that will allow us to retire much of the debt on Gibbons Creek earlier than expected. This will allow BTU to utilize more cost effective forms of fuel for power generation and is expected to be beneficial from a customer rate perspective while having no adverse effect on system reliability.”

BTU is a municipally owned utility with a current generation capacity of 330 megawatts and serves over 52,000 customers in Brazos, Burleson, and Robertson counties.

Posted in: Press Releases