Texas PUC Greenlights Coal Plant Closure & Renewables Construction, Saving Millions of Gallons of Water Every Year

Texas regulators have approved plans to close the Tolk coal plant near Lubbock and replace it with wind, solar, and battery storage. The utility, Southwestern Public Service Company (a part of Xcel Energy), will retire the plant in early 2029 and build 1,100 megawatts of wind power, 322 megawatts of battery storage, and 189 megawatts of solar — enough to power about 375,000 homes in Texas and New Mexico. Regulators also approved two new gas-fired "peaker" plants, which run only at times of high demand, but capped how much they can cost to build.

The switch matters most for water. Tolk draws cooling water from the Ogallala Aquifer, a groundwater source in the region that has been shrinking for years. The plant used 1.2 billion gallons of that water in 2024 alone, down from 3.3 billion gallons in 2015. Wind, solar, and batteries use almost none. Closing the plant is also expected to cut millions of tons of carbon dioxide and other pollution each year, along with the coal dust that comes from trains hauling coal from Wyoming to Texas.

For homeowners, this isn't a program you sign up for or a rebate to claim. It's a shift in where your electricity comes from if you're served by this utility in Texas or New Mexico. Over time, that can mean a cleaner mix of power reaching your home, though the rate and bill effects of the plant swap aren't detailed here.