Panda Power Funds broke ground November 8 on its 758-megawatt natural gas-fueled, combined-cycle power plant in Sherman, Texas. The facility is being built by a turn-key consortium of Bechtel and Siemens Energy Inc. on a 204-acre site.
On September 18, Panda Power secured financing for the Sherman plant. Construction is expected to be complete by year-end 2014.
This plant will also be identical in size and configuration to Panda’s Temple, Texas power plant, which held its groundbreaking in mid-September.
"We're fortunate to be able to design and build two state-of-the-art facilities so close to one another and with so much local support," says Jeff Brightman, president of Bechtel's Fossil business line. "The community values the facilities because there is large demand in the state for additional electric capacity. In addition, the two plants will support up to 1,600 jobs combined, which strengthens the economic viability of the community."
Bechtel will be responsible for engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning of the facility, while Siemens will supply the power island package of the plant.
Panda designed the Sherman generating station as a "quick-start" power plant, meaning power generation is expected to commence within 10 minutes of startup, reaching full gas turbine power production within approximately 30 minutes.
The completed Sherman plant is estimated to contribute around $1.7 billion to the area's economy during construction and the facility's first 10 years of operation, according to Panda Power. This includes 700-800 jobs created at peak construction, around 27 skilled jobs to operate the facility and 45 indirect jobs within the community to support the plant.
