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ROBERTSON COUNTY, TX -Fluor Corp. has received the go-ahead to build a 1,600-megawatt, two-unit power plant on a 350-acre site in Central Texas. Construction will begin within 10 days on the $1.8-billion Oak Grove project, which will have the bones of a partially-finished power plant as its foundation.

The site is located off FM 979 near Franklin, about 60 miles southeast of Waco. A Fluor spokesman says the plan is to add to what's already there rather than start from scratch. "The foundation and some of the utilities are already in there from the older power plant that was never completed," he tells GlobeSt.com. "It's not like a green field where we'll need to turn some shovels. Plus a lot of the engineering and design work have been in progress for awhile from our end."

The power plant will sit on 350 of the 15,000-acre project, which includes Twin Oak Reservoir. The Oak Grove project is expected to create about 2,400 construction jobs during the next two to three years. It is projected to come on line between late 2009 and mid-2010.