Cleco Power opens new clean energy facility in Louisiana

Cleco Power opened its St. Mary Clean Energy Center in Franklin, La. — a facility that generates up to 50-megawatts of electricity.

“This marks the close of a four-year project completed in partnership with Cabot Corp. whereby Cleco generates power through waste heat recovered from Cabot’s existing carbon black facility,” Robbie LaBorde, chief operations officer at Cleco, said.

Through this process, the waste heat is captured and utilized by Cleco’s St. Mary Clean Energy Center to produce steam to drive a turbine generator to produce electricity without increasing carbon dioxide emissions.

“This is a unique opportunity to provide clean power that is reliably generated and is good for the environment,” LaBorde said. “This new Cleco plant is capable of producing up to 50 megawatts, which is enough to power 17,000 homes a year with zero associated emissions.”

The facility will bring more energy to an area that has limited generation resources. It also strengthens electric service reliability in south Louisiana.

“The St. Mary Clean Energy Center is an innovative project that supports our economy, helps us plan for our customers’ future power needs and protects the environment,” Shane Hilton, president of Cleco Power, said.

Cleco Power provides electricity to 290,000 customers in Louisiana and Mississippi.