Louisiana utility regulators will decide later whether to put a major power plant project on a lengthy hiatus—or cancel the plan altogether. Either way, Entergy Louisiana’s plan to convert a generator at the Little Gypsy plant in southeastern Louisiana to petroleum coke has likely fallen by the wayside because of escalating project costs—an original $1 billion to $1.76 billion—natural gas prices that have fallen sharply and a major unknown—what carbon legislation will eventually emerge from Congress.
The utility, a unit of New Orleans-based Entergy Corp., told the Public Service Commission it wants a delay of at least three years for the project. Environmental groups that have opposed the plant on pollution grounds since its inception urged regulators to cancel it completely. The PSC did not indicate when it would vote after formally receiving Entergy Louisiana’s recommendation and preliminary report today. Last week, Entergy Louisiana, in a filing with the commission, said there were too many economic unknowns to continue the project. When the conversion was approved by the PSC in November 2007, natural gas prices were three times as high as today, and the project was hailed as a big cost-saver.
