Freestone county is in line as the site for a new natural gas-fired electric generating plant to be owned and operated by MyPower Corporation of Houston.

The power plant, named Lakeside Energy Center, will generate 640 megawatts of electricity. In comparison, Calpine Freestone Energy Center, also a natural gas-fired facility, generates 1,000 megawatts.

Location of the proposed MyPower plant is at FM 416 and CR 196 near Richland-Chambers Reservoir.

MyPower has filed an air quality permit with Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and ran a public notice last week in The Fairfield Recorder seeking public comments.

The company is a subsidiary of Mitsui and Company (USA), Inc., headquartered in New York, NY.

Construction is scheduled to start in June 2010 and the plant is expected to start operations in March 2013.

Electricity is to be generated through a pair of combined cycle combustion turbine generators and two heat recovery steam generators.

The site for the plant consists of about 35 acres south of FM 416.

Cost to construct Lakeside Energy Center is not available, listed on the TCEQ permit application only as in excess of $7.5 million.

The Calpine plant cost about $200 million to build and employed 600 construction workers. Freestone Energy Center now employs 30 people for operations.

The TCEQ permit is required because the proposed plant produce air borne emissions.

Annual emissions as shown in the permit application are 167.72 pounds of nitrogen oxide, 626.09 pounds of carbon dioxide, 83.78 pounds of volatile organic compounds and 28.51 pounds of sulfur dioxide.

Lakeside Energy Center will provide power during peak use in the area, supplementing electricity provided by other generating plants such as the coalfired Luminant Big Brown Steam Electric Station near Lake Fairfield in Freestone county.

MyPower predicts the plant is to be started 820 times in a year to supplement peak electricity use times. Announcement of the proposed natural gas-fired plant come on the heels of plans made public by Luminant that it has fired a permit application with Texas Railroad Commission to open a new lignite coal mine in the county.

The new mine, designated Area D of Big Brown Mine will be on the east side of Lake Fairfield. The TRC application seeks a permit to mine about 10,000 acres.

Lignite produced at Big Brown Mine, and to be dug in the new Area D, is blended with coal from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming. Powder River coal burns hotter than lignite and has a lower sulfur content.