Entergy Louisiana has announced its $870 million St. Charles Power Station started commercial operation on May 23.
“The St. Charles Power Station will supply reliable, clean energy to customers to help support the tremendous growth Louisiana is experiencing,” said 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.”
The company plans to officially dedicate the 980-megawatt unit, which was completed ahead of schedule and on budget, in a July 15 ceremony.
The power station project is one of six major generation projects totaling approximately $3.5 billion to be undertaken across Entergy’s service area over the next three years.
Entergy Louisiana employs 31 people to operate the unit.
Described as the cleanest natural gas-powered plants in Entergy Louisiana’s fleet, the combined-cycle gas turbine units like the St. Charles facility emit on average about 40 percent less carbon dioxide than Entergy’s older natural gas-powered units.
Because of the plant’s efficiency, it is projected 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 Power Station is another milestone in Entergy’s broader plan to modernize and transform the Entergy Utility’s existing generation fleet. Over the past 13 years, Entergy has added approximately 5,900 megawatts of clean, highly efficient combined-cycle gas turbine generation, allowing for the deactivation of over 6,300 megawatts 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.
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