Entergy to purchase natural gas plant in Mississippi

Entergy Mississippi, Inc. announced plans this week to purchase a natural gas plant in French Camp, Miss., and add its 810-megawatt capabilities to its power generating capabilities.

The Choctaw Energy Facility is to be purchased for $314 million, supposing the agreement gains regulatory approval. Entergy hopes to close on the deal by the end of 2019, after which the number of people the plant employs is expected to expand from 23 to 32. Entergy had been looking for ways to further its production and concluded that purchasing the existing plant would be more cost and time efficient than building their own.

“This purchase is a continuation of our efforts to update our generation plants to more modern and efficient facilities, and it replaces power plants that have been recently retired or will soon be retired,” Darron Case, Entergy Mississippi director of resource planning and market operations, said. “We have retired approximately 700 megawatts of original, older generation in the past several months. This newer plant also helps us meet a growing need at the most economic market price for our customers. The purchase will also provide the opportunity for the retirement of additional older plants in the near-term.”

The Choctaw plant is a combined-cycle gas turbine facility, which utilizes natural gas and the steam byproduct of it to produce the most electricity it can for the lowest cost. Comparative to other facilities, the methodology also makes it more environmentally sound.