The Texas Energy Fund (TCEF) will loan $276 million to build a 460-megawatt (MW) natural gas power plant in Fairfield, Texas. Calpine Corporation will build the plant, which is estimated to begin generating power for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) power region before summer 2026. The estimated cost of the plant is $464 million. The loan, at 3%, makes up 60% of the costs.

The loan agreement with Calpine is the fourth finalized under the TxEF’s In-ERCOT Generation Loan Program, which provides low-interest loans for projects that add new, dispatchable power to the ERCOT region.

The natural gas generation facility is under construction adjacent to Calpine’s Freestone Energy Center in Freestone County. The project will interconnect in the ERCOT North Load Zone, which includes the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.   

In addition to the four loan agreements already approved, there are currently 13 applications to the TxEF In-ERCOT Generation Loan Program moving through a due diligence review process.