Lower Colorado River Authority
 |
|
| Abbreviation | LCRA |
|---|---|
| Motto | To enhance the life of the Texans we serve through water stewardship, energy and community service. |
| Formation | 1934 |
| Purpose | Water conservation and reclamation, power generation, transmission |
| Headquarters | 3700 Lake Austin Blvd, Austin, TX 78703 |
|
Region served
|
More than 70 counties in Texas |
|
General Manager
|
Phil Wilson |
|
Main organ
|
Board of Directors |
| Website | http://www.lcra.org/ |
The Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) is a nonprofit public utility created in November 1934 by the Texas Legislature. LCRA's mission is to enhance the lives of the Texans it serves through water stewardship, energy and community service. LCRA provides public power, manages the lower Colorado River, builds and operates transmission lines, owns public parks, and offers community services.
LCRA does not receive state appropriations or have the ability to levy taxes. Instead, LCRA is funded by revenue it generates, the vast majority of which comes from producing and transmitting electricity. A very small portion of LCRA's revenue comes from selling water.
The Fayette Power Project is a three-unit coal-fired power plant in Fayette County that provides 1,625 megawatts (MW). (Austin Energy co-owns two of the units and the power they produce.) Lake Fayette is the cooling pond for the project. LCRA uses coal from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming as fuel.
The Sim Gideon Power Plant is a three-unit natural gas-fired plant in Bastrop County that provides 608 megawatts. The Lost Pines 1 Power Project (owned and operated by GenTex Power Corporation, an LCRA affiliate) is a natural gas-fired combined-cycle plant adjacent to the Sim Gideon plant, and the two form the Lost Pines Power Park. The Lost Pines 1 Power Project can generate up to 511 megawatts. Lake Bastrop is the cooling pond for the Lost Pines Power Park.
LCRA broke ground on a new Thomas C. Ferguson Power Plant in April 2012, about 100 yards from the site of the original Ferguson plant on Lake LBJ. The plant began operating in 2014. The Ferguson facility is a natural gas-fired, combined cycle plant in Horseshoe Bay capable of producing 540 megawatts. Ferguson is among the most environmentally responsible power plants in Texas, producing 30 to 40 percent fewer emissions per unit of power that the unit it replaced. It uses about 35 percent less fuel per megawatt-hour and about one-third of the water used at a typical steam plant per unit of power.
...
Wikipedia