1,200-megawatt natural gas power plant revealed for old Alcoa site in Milam County [Video]

AUSTIN (Austin Business Journal) — Months after a Dallas-based developer revealed its vision for the 31,000-acre former Alcoa aluminum plant near Rockdale, officials have announced plans to build a 1,200-megawatt natural gas power plant on the site that can support the equivalent of 800,000 homes.

The Feb. 12 announcement ties together potential area-changing plans aimed at breathing new life into the site, which was an aluminum smelting plant for decades. The ranch is mostly reclaimed coal-mining land and the industrial space was in the past slated for Bitcoin mining. The site stretches across Milam and Lee counties and is located about 15 miles east of Taylor, where Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. is building a multibillion-dollar chip factory.

Xebec Holdings LLC purchased the land in 2021 for $240 million from Alcoa Corp. Xebec remained quiet on its redevelopment plans until last year when developers said they were aiming to build up to 50 million …