Entergy Louisiana’s St. Charles Power Station begins commercial operation

Entergy Louisiana announced Wednesday that the St. Charles Power Station, a 980-megawatt (MW) combined-cycle gas turbine unit, recently commenced commercial operation.

The St. Charles Power Station is one of the cleanest natural gas-powered plants in Entergy Louisiana’s fleet. On average, Entergy Louisiana noted, combined-cycle gas turbine units like the St. Charles facility emit approximately 40 percent 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,” Phillip May, president and CEO of Entergy Louisiana, said. “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 said that the plant is projected to save customers more than $1.3 billion over the expected 30-year life of the unit due to its high efficiency. Entergy Louisiana expects that customer savings will exceed the plant’s construction costs in under 10 years. The company invested approximately $870 million into the project.

At its peak, 955 workers were involved in the construction of the unit, and Entergy Louisiana employs 31 people to operate the plant.

The company plans to officially dedicate the unit in a ceremony on July 15.

In the past 13 years, Entergy has added approximately 5,900 MW of combined-cycle gas turbine generation, enabling the deactivation of more than 6,300 MW of older gas or oil units.