Chancellor John Sharp invited companies to submit ideas for building natural gas power plants on Texas A&M System land, but there may be better options.

Danny Lynch, site manager, walks through a battery storage yard at the Blue Jay solar and storage plant in Iola in September.

The natural gas power plants built between 1958 and 1968 at NRG’s WA Parish power plant in Richmond.

In this file photo, General Manager Darryl Nitschke talks on the radio as he makes the rounds of the Panda Power Plant in Sherman, north of Dallas.

The Texas Aggies have a plan to save the electric grid.

Chancellor John Sharp invited private companies to submit ideas for building natural gas power plants on Texas A&M System land. He’s interested in so-called peakers that operate only when supply and demand are tight.

Aggies don’t mind the roar of turbines or the exhaust fumes if giving up some land will help the state remain air-conditioned.

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“This will help ensure our campuses and their local communities never go dark again while adding power to help ensure all of Texas is protected,” Sharp said in a bold statement typical in College Station.

Sharp's is just one of many solutions folks are floating to keep the lights on when the sky is dark or the wind is still. The quandary is which proposal will become a boondoggle.

Sharp wants to team up with generation........

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