Entergy Louisiana has requested state officers for approval to construct a floating pure gas-fired energy plant that will serve areas alongside the Gulf Coast.
The utility’s latest March submitting with the Louisiana Public Service Fee requires development of a $411 million, 112-MW floating facility referred to as the Bayou Energy Station. The plant can be positioned close to Leeville, southwest of New Orleans.
Phillip Might, president and CEO of Entergy Louisiana, in an announcement stated the Bayou station can be “a singular resolution” to produce electrical energy to areas essential to Louisiana trade, together with the vitality, tourism, and seafood sectors. The utility, a unit of New Orleans-based Entergy, in its submitting stated the floating facility can be positioned atop a barge close to an influence substation in Leeville. It will be designed to offer backup energy, notably throughout outages, and can be a part of a microgrid system that will serve business and industrial pursuits, together with industries within the Port Fourchon space, in addition to residential prospects within the areas of Golden Meadow, Leeville, and Grand Isle.
Funding in Area’s Energy Infrastructure
The utility in a information launch stated, “This transformative undertaking represents a major funding within the area’s vitality infrastructure, geared toward bolstering resilience and reliability for communities and industries alongside the coast which can be important to native and nationwide economies.” The utility stated the plant can be “geared up with black-start functionality and the power to quickly start-up and ramp down.”
State officers have stated Port Fourchon providers about 95% of the Gulf of Mexico’s deepwater vitality manufacturing, together with as a lot as 15% of the nation’s home and international oil enterprise. The realm from Grand Isle to Golden Meadow is a hub for the seafood trade.
Entergy Louisiana in asserting the undertaking stated the Bayou Energy Station would to help the reliability and resilience of the ability system within the area alongside the coast.
“Whether or not you’re positioned in a giant metropolis, small city or alongside the coast, Entergy Louisiana is dedicated to offering our prospects with reasonably priced and dependable energy,” stated Might. “Our prospects in areas like Grand Isle, Golden Meadow and Port Fourchon play an essential function in our state’s tourism and seafood industries and vitality sector, and the Bayou Energy Station is a singular resolution to assembly their energy wants into the long run.”
The utility in a information launch stated, “The addition of Bayou Energy Station would complement initiatives which have been accomplished over the previous couple years to construct resilience into the electrical system close to the coast. Some examples of those initiatives embody the Caminada substation, which was elevated 20 toes off the bottom on a concrete platform; upgrading round seven miles of transmission strains with about 80 metal buildings between Lower Off and Golden Meadow; and undergrounding round eight miles of distribution strains alongside Louisiana Freeway 1 from Leeville to Grand Isle and taking strategic steps to fortify the overhead electrical system within the space.”
—Darrell Proctor is a senior affiliate editor for POWER (@POWERmagazine).
