When Winter Storm Uri swept across Texas in February 2021, Rayburn Electric Cooperative incurred three years’ worth of power costs in five days. It has also become the platform for a 570-MW expansion backed by the Texas Energy Fund—financing no other cooperative in the state has secured. “We grew into Rayburn Energy Station a lot faster than we anticipated.” The plant received a control-system upgrade in 2021 and gained peak-firing capability on the turbines in 2022 to boost flexibility and output, according to Alex O’Brien, plant manager. Rayburn broke ground in June 2026 on Rayburn Energy Station II (RES II), a $685 million, 570-MW natural gas–fired generation facility on the RES site.