Sandow Power Plant
coal-fired power plant in Rockdale, Texas
Sandow Power Plant was a 1.1-gigawatt (1,137 MW) coal power plant located southwest of Rockdale in Milam County, Texas. It was operated by Luminant, a subsidiary of Vistra Corp. The plant closed in 2018.
Sandow Power Plant Units 1–3
Sandow was constructed by Alcoa in 1951 to power its nearby aluminium smelting facility. Operations of Sandow's first three units began in 1954 with a nearby man-made reservoir called Alcoa Lake utilized to cool the plant. In the 1980s, Alcoa commenced a mid-life update to Units 1–3 at a cost of $63 million. After its completion, pollution from the plant increased by 13,000 tons annually. A settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was agreed upon in 2003 to remedy the plant for violating the Clear Air Act. Ultimately, Units 1–3 would be decommissioned in 2009.
Sandow Power Plant Units 4–5
The plant had two active units at the time of its closure: Unit 4 began operation in 1981 and Unit 5 began operation in 2009.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Sandow Power Plant” as coal-fired power plant in Rockdale, Texas. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as coal-fired power plant in Rockdale, Texas. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q11999451. Authority coordinates are 30.564, -97.064. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2018, 1951, 1954 and 2003.
Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.
- Current terminology
- Classification context
- Finding cited technical literature
Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Sandow Power Plant”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Sandow Power Plant primary sources, Sandow Power Plant archive and Sandow research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sandow Power Plant”?
- Which observation, specimen, dataset or publication supports the account?
- Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Sandow Power Plant” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.