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The first power plant funded by the Texas Energy Fund’s gas loans came online earlier this month, and a second is on its way. These mark the first tangible victories for a program that has run headlong into the macroeconomic challenges of the AI boom.
Constellation Energy’s Pin Oak Creek project, a 460-megawatt peaking plant operated by Calpine, received a $278-million loan via TEF in October 2025. It officially interconnected to ERCOT on May 5. A second TEF-backed project, a 415-MW expansion by NRG, is also nearing completion, the company said in its latest earnings call. That second project, which adds new simple-cycle gas capacity at the existing TH Wharton power plant in Houston, is expected to come online later this month. NRG received a $216-million loan from TEF for the project, which is the smallest of three that the energy supplier is developing with help from the fund.
Despite the apparent success of these two projects, getting other TEF-funded efforts over the finish line has been complicated. The fund, Texas’ $9-billion answer to blackouts during Winter Storm Uri, was designed to jump-start the construction of new gas generation that might otherwise have struggled to find financing given the revenue instability that comes with ERCOT’s scarcity pricing model.
