ALTAIR — The Kerrville Public Utility Board (KPUB) is breaking ground on a large tract of land on Highway 90A near Altair. Until recently, KPUB purchased power for its customers from other electric sources at the best possible rates. The utility company, increasingly worried about the energy market’s volatility, voted to wholly own its own generation project.
KPUB’s power supply contract will end in a few years, which provides a large share of its power supply to its current customers. Volatility, market scarcity, rising power demand and extreme weather events provided the impetus for KPUB to invest in its own infrastructure.
The power plant will be a nat- ural-gas-fired reciprocating inter nal-combustion engine generation plant. Designed to be independent of wind or sun, it is highly effi cient, with almost zero water consumption for cooling thanks to its closed-loop cooling system.
