According to Reuters article published on May 19, 2023, a minor, smoldering fire inside Calpine Corp's 451-megawatt (MW) natural gas-fired power plant in Texas City, Texas, has been put out, the city's Emergency Management said on Twitter on Friday.
Calpine, which generates electricity using gas, geothermal and renewable sources, was not immediately available for comment, so it was not clear what impact, if any, the fire had on the plant.
But, now is not a good time for any U.S. power plant to be shut unexpectedly.
The North American Electric Reliability Corp (NERC) said this week that several parts of North America, including the U.S. West, Midwest, Texas, Southeast, and New England, along with Ontario in Canada, are at elevated risk this summer of having "insufficient operating reserves in above-normal (weather) conditions."
The Texas City power plant is a combined-cycle facility with three 104-MW combustion turbines and one 139-MW steam turbine.
