LEPA to dedicate Morgan City power plant Friday

The Louisiana Energy and Power Authority will dedicate its $120.77 million new natural gas-fired electrical power plant in Morgan City at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the site behind the Joseph Cefalu Municipal Steam Plant, according to a news release.
A brief ceremony and ribbon-cutting will be followed by tours and a reception at the plant site.
The plant is a 64-megawatt nominal rated natural gas-fired combined-cycle gas turbine generating plant. Morgan City owns a 10-megawatt share of the plant.
The new plant is the first power plant to be built in the southern region of Louisiana in about 40 years, and the first electrical power plant LEPA has built.
Morgan City Mayor Frank “Boo” Grizzaffi, who serves as LEPA board chairman, said officials have completed initial test runs on the power plant, and the plant will be in full operation June 1.
The city is no longer using the Joseph Cefalu Municipal Steam Plant and is currently getting all of its power through the power grid at the Bayou Ramos power substation.
Six LEPA member municipalities including Morgan City, Houma, Jonesville, Plaquemine, Rayne and Vidalia, have entered into long-term power sales agreements for the plant’s power output.
“The plant is expected to supply these municipalities with competitively priced electrical power that will reduce their reliance on older, more costly electric supply options,” LEPA General Manager Cordell Grand said in the news release.
“The CCGT technology used in this plant is superior to conventional fossil-fuel generating plants because of its higher efficiency, lower environmental impact, lower capital cost, and shorter construction time,” Grand said. “Because the plant is fuel efficient, it will help stabilize the cost of electrical power for these municipalities by minimizing the impact of fluctuations in natural gas rates.”
Conversations about constructing a new plant began in November 2009 at a LEPA operating committee meeting, Grand said at the April 2014 groundbreaking.
Officials decided that Morgan City would be the right fit for the power plant, and in October 2010, the participating communities got together to jointly fund the development of a project through the issuing of bonds, Grand said.
In the spring of 2011, LEPA hired engineers to look at different potential sites over about a year’s time period. In early 2013, LEPA started advertising contracts for bid on the project, Grand said.
The plant has several energy efficiency features:
—Waste heat from the gas turbine will be recovered and used to produce additional power.
—The combine cycle gas turbine generators are highly efficient and support clean air.
—The unit uses clean burning natural gas, minimizing extensive environmental control systems. A 1.3 mile, 8-inch natural gas pipeline was constructed to interconnect the plant to the Texas Gas Transmission pipeline.
—And, the plant utilizes reclaimed water discharged from the nearby Morgan City Waste Water Treatment Plant, conserving treated water.
The state Legislature created LEPA in 1979. The organization consists of 17 Louisiana municipalities that each maintain their own independent municipal electrical system. LEPA is a joint-action agency working to provide its member communities with firm, stable sources of electrical power at the lowest possible cost, the release said.