Entergy Louisiana announced that the St. Charles Power Station commenced commercial operation on May 23. The 980-mW power station is one of the cleanest natural gas-powered plants in Entergy Louisiana’s fleet. Combined-cycle gas turbine units like the St. Charles facility emit on average about 40% less carbon dioxide than Entergy’s older natural gas-powered units.
“The St. Charles Power Station will supply reliable, clean energy to customers to help support the tremendous growth Louisiana is experiencing,” says Phillip May, president and CEO of Entergy Louisiana. “This combined-cycle plant is one part of our transformation to cleaner, more efficient generation. Replacing older, less efficient plants with new, cleaner natural gas units will improve system reliability, reduce environmental impacts and produce substantial customer savings over the long term.”
Because of the plant’s high efficiency, it is projected that customers will save more than $1.3 billion over the anticipated 30-year life of the unit. Customer savings are expected to exceed the plant’s construction cost in less than 10 years.
The company plans to officially dedicate the unit, which was completed ahead of schedule and on budget, in a ceremony slated for July 15. At its peak, 955 workers were engaged in the construction of the unit. Entergy Louisiana employs 31 people to operate the plant.
Entergy Corporation Portfolio Transformation
The St. Charles Power Station is another important milestone in Entergy Corporation’s broader plan to modernize and transform the Entergy Utility’s existing generation fleet. Over the past 13 years, Entergy has added about 5,900 mW of clean, highly efficient combined-cycle gas turbine generation, allowing for the deactivation of more than 6,300 mW of older, less efficient gas or oil units. In addition to providing reliable, cost-effective power, Entergy’s investments in its generation portfolio transformation and nuclear improvements since 2000 have resulted in substantial reductions in the company’s NOx, SO2, mercury and CO2 emissions, highlighting Entergy’s commitment to environmental stewardship.
The approximately $870 million St. Charles Power Station project is one of six major generation projects totaling about $3.5 billion to be undertaken across Entergy’s service area over the next three years. Entergy Louisiana, LLC provides electric service to more than 1 million customers and natural gas service to more than 93,000 customers in the greater Baton Rouge area. With operations in southern, central and northeastern Louisiana, the company is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation.
Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with about 30,000 mW of electric generating capacity, including nearly 9,000 mW of nuclear power. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.9 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of approximately $11 billion and nearly 13,700 employees.
