Ariel Dupre
August 4, 2010
Curtis Comeaux
August 6, 2010
With Houma’s steam turbine power plant being more than 40 years old and reaching closer to its inevitable expiration date, Terrebonne Parish Council discussed a future plan to build a new plant in Morgan City.
“Looking into the future, none of us are Houdinis,” councilman Johnny Pizzolatto said at the Public Services Committee meeting. “But when you’re talking about a 40-year-old system, we’ve got to start thinking hard about what we’re going to do.”
Houma’s power source goes back more than 100 years, according to Utilities Director Tom Bourg.
“The original source of power for Houma’s plant goes back as far as 1908, which started on Main Street in, then moved to current site in 1927,” Bourg said. “In the early ’60s a steam turbine was installed, and the most recent steam turbine was installed in 1975.”
With Houma’s demand for power increasing as the years go by, with Houma serving over 12,300 customers, some say it’s time for a cost-efficient upgrade.
“There’s very little that could be done to substantially change efficiency of the steam generators,” Boug said, who mentioned talk of adding upgrades to the existing generators. “When half of the system is brand new and half is 40 years old, you’re stuck. Your chain is no stronger than its weakest link.”
After the presentation of Power Supply Feasibility Analysis conducted by GDS, a combined-cycle generating facility was proposed.
“One of the first things we did at GDS was took a look at Houma’s low duration curve, which is nothing more than what Houma needs every hour of the year, and we made a projection of what that will look like 2013,” said GDS consultant Chris Dawson.
“[The steam generators], without significant capital investments, are going to be limited to reliably serve the load,” he said, also mentioning that power transmission lines owned by Entergy get overloaded during the summer.
“So Louisiana Energy and Power Authority (LEPA) over the past 10 years has been looking at different alternatives that could help resolve not only Houma’s situation but numerous LEPA members power supply situations, and what they are proposing is to start up a new combined-cycle generator,” Dawson said.
After taking all of Houma’s power sources into consideration, the projected load requirement for 2013 would be approximately 25 megawatts of intermediate generation out of a 65-megawatt generator. Other LEPA members that are interested in the combined-cycle generator are Morgan City, New Roads, Plaquemine, Rayne, Vidalia, Welsh and Winnfield, according to Bourg.
Dawson also added in the long run, consumers would be safe from fuel prices skyrocketing.
“Based on the analysis we will see a higher fixed cost or capital cost associated with the new investments, but those new, more efficient, better utilized investments will allow you to reduce your energy costs, fuel costs and protect you from eventuality of higher gas costs or environmental related costs,” he said.
Bourg said the benefits of this combined-cycle generator do not end there.
“This type of technology has the least carbon footprint, except wind and solar energies,” Boug said.
All preliminary financial work including site selection and engineering will cost $1.75 million.
“The efficiency will compete with anything that’s out there on the market today,” Dawson said.
The council agreed to go forward with the combined-cycle generator plan, and will revisit the plan for a vote on the $80 million construction of the plant, $33 million of which Terrebonne Parish will be responsible for, in approximately 18 months.
The “vintage” Houma generating station sitting on La. Highway 311 has been running at that location since the 1970s. JENNA FARMER
