Entergy Louisiana purchases 361 MW Washington Parish Energy Center

After a more than three year process, Entergy Louisiana, LLC has finished buying the 361 MW Washington Parish Energy Center from the Calpine Corporation, granting it a modern natural gas-powered plant to add to the grid.

“We continue to seek opportunities to add to our clean-energy portfolio, and the Washington Parish Energy Center is another step in us meeting those goals,” Phillip May, Entergy Louisiana president and CEO, said. “The plant also helps ensure we continue to deliver reliable power to our customers at some of the lowest rates in the country.”

The plant will help Entergy deal with peaking and reserve generating capacity. Currently, it has been reliant upon older, less efficient natural gas-powered plants to meet peak demand. The Washington Parish facility offers combustion turbines more capable of quick starts and ramp-ups to immediately meet energy needs. It also offers low-carbon, cheap power.

Entergy paid approximately $261 million for the facility in a deal unanimously approved by the Louisiana Public Service Commission. Its production will go toward the company’s more than 93,000 customers in the greater Baton Rouge, La., area.

“We extend our thanks to Entergy Louisiana for being a valued partner during the development and construction of this facility,” Caleb Stephenson, Calpine executive vice president and co-head of commercial operations, said. “This project demonstrates Calpine’s commitment to develop and deliver commercial solutions for our utility customers, and we look forward to working with Entergy again.”