The Lafayette, La., City Council on March 5 cleared a path for Lafayette Utilities System to build a new natural gas-fired power plant.
Specifically, the city council authorized a budget amendment to include the project in the public power utility’s budget, authorized the necessary rate increase to cover the debt associated with the project, and authorized the preliminary approval to move forward and submit a request to the state bond commission to seek permission for a $400 million bond issuance.
The vote was 5-0 in favor of all three actions, noted Jeffrey Stewart, Director of LUS.
LUS plans to build a new power plant at the existing Bonin operations center because of anticipated future loss of electricity from the Rodemacher Power Station Unit 2, near Boyce, Louisiana. The new power plant would provide a local source of electricity for the Lafayette community.
LUS in February held public meetings for the project.
The Louis ‘Doc’ Bonin Generation Station was built in 1965 to generate electricity for the LUS community. It originally consisted of three natural gas-fired steam turbines and three cooling towers, all of which are no longer in operation. The station stopped generating electricity in 2013 and is currently used as an operations center for LUS.
The utility also owns and operates two other power stations in Lafayette that use natural gas and were built around 2006.
On its website, LUS details the benefits that will flow from the new power plant as follows:
Reliable
- The Bonin site for the Project will supply another local source of energy for the Lafayette community in addition to the two other local power plants currently operating.
- The Project provides reliable, dispatchable capacity, which will help support renewable energy sources and power purchase agreements.
- The Project will provide LUS with the capability to supply reliable electricity during short-term needs and the flexibility to accommodate future technologies.
Cost Effective
- The Federal government’s stringent environmental regulations for coal power plants would require ongoing maintenance and repairs of RPS2 to keep it working as a coal-burning plant. A new power plant on the Bonin site would cost less than renovating RPS2 to meet current standards.
- The Project will allow LUS to develop a diversified supply of electricity, by both generating electricity at power plants and buying electricity via the open market.
Safe
- Natural gas power plants produce less pollution and greenhouse gases than coal power plants, making them a cleaner source of electricity than coal.
- The new Bonin plant would include the latest safety technologies and meet all the latest emission standards for a power plant.
Environmentally Friendly
- The Project will allow LUS to enter into a solar power purchase agreement to use renewable energy alongside cleaner energy from a natural gas generated baseload.
- A sharp decline in carbon dioxide emissions is expected following the 2027 retirement of RPS2, a coal burning generating station. The Bonin site would be redeveloped to house a cleaner, natural gas-fired combustion turbine. This power plant would provide more capacity and electricity for LUS customers during peak periods. LUS also plans to purchase power from other sources to diversify its energy portfolio.
