Editing Lower Colorado River Authority (section)

==Power generation portfolio==
===Coal===
The [[Fayette Power Project]]  is a three-unit coal-fired power plant in [[Fayette County, Texas|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.<ref name="lcra">{{cite web |title=A diverse generation fleet |url=https://www.lcra.org/energy/electric-power/facilities/ |website=LCRA |publisher=Lower Colorado River Authority |access-date=2 October 2022}}</ref>

===Natural gas===
The [[Sim Gideon Power Plant]] is a three-unit [[natural gas]]-fired plant in [[Bastrop County, Texas|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 old plant was decommissioned. 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 than 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=LCRA dedicates new 540MW Thomas C. Ferguson power plant in US |url=https://www.nsenergybusiness.com/news/newslcra-dedicates-new-540mw-thomas-c-ferguson-power-plant-in-us-161014-4407041/ |website=NS ENERGY |date=October 15, 2014 |access-date=2 October 2022}}</ref>

The Winchester Power Park in [[Fayette County, Texas|Fayette County]] provides about 176 megawatts for use primarily during peak-demand periods.

The LCRA buys natural gas on the open market and stores it at the Hilbig Gas Storage Facility, an underground reservoir near [[Rockne, Texas]]. The facility can hold up to 4 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

===Hydroelectric===
[[Image:mansfield dam.gif|thumb|262px|[[Mansfield Dam]], the dam completed in 1941 that forms [[Lake Travis]] (the beginning of [[Lake Austin]] and an early low-water crossing is seen below the dam)]]

LCRA operates six [[hydroelectric]] [[dam]]s along the Colorado River in Central Texas that provide a source of renewable energy and form six lakes collectively known as the [[Texas Highland Lakes]]:

*[[Buchanan Dam]] (54.9 MW) - forms [[Lake Buchanan (Texas)|Lake Buchanan]]
*[[Inks Dam]] (13.8 MW) - forms [[Inks Lake]]
*[[Wirtz Dam]] (60 MW) - forms [[Lake LBJ]], which also serves as a cooling pond for the Thomas C. Ferguson Power Plant
*[[Max Starcke Dam]] (41.4 MW) - forms [[Lake Marble Falls]]
*[[Mansfield Dam]] (108 MW) - forms [[Lake Travis]]
*[[Tom Miller Dam]] (17 MW) - forms [[Lake Austin]]

In keeping with its state-approved Water Management Plan, LCRA generates electricity from the dams only as it releases water for other reasons, or when ordered to do so by the [[Electric Reliability Council of Texas]] (ERCOT).

===Wind===
LCRA purchases 51 megawatts of wind power capacity from the [[Indian Mesa Wind Farm|Indian Mesa Wind Energy Center]] in West Texas and 200 megawatts from the Papalote Creek II Wind Farm near the Texas Gulf Coast.

===Transmission===
LCRA distributes electricity to its wholesale electric customers - mostly municipal utilities and electric cooperatives - and supports the statewide electric transmission network through more than 5,100 miles of [[Electric power transmission|transmission lines]] and more than 380 substations, which are owned by LCRA Transmission Services Corporation, a nonprofit corporation owned by LCRA.