New Orleans-based utility Entergy Louisiana is seeking approval from state regulators in early July to build a 112 MW natural gas floating power plant on a barge near an existing substation in Port Fourchon, Louisiana, which says it could burn up to 25% hydrogen, with modifications.
Entergy asked the Louisiana Public Service Commission to make a decision within 120 days, but a spokesman says the outcome is unlikely. With the approval process just beginning, a final decision is not likely in the timeframe requested by Entergy, a commission spokesman said.
The estimated $411 million Bayou Power Plant project, including transmission upgrades, would be designed and built by Grand Isle Shipyards on a fixed-price, fixed-time contract, with Bollinger Shipyards building the barge, Entergy says. It is expected to come online in the second half of 2028.
Entergy did not bid on the project because of its unique features, he told the commission. Given the need, location and type of resource, a request for proposals “would not be necessary to identify the lowest reasonable cost alternative,” the company added.
Plans call for six Wartsila natural gas alternative internal combustion engines that can be started without power from the grid, known as “black-start capability,” and a microgrid to serve the area if power from the network is down. The project also includes a transport interconnection and a substation extension.
The six engines, mounted on a barge deck, would be completely enclosed and weathertight, the utility says, with the barge and mooring system designed for a 100-year storm and capable of withstanding wind gusts of 178 mph and 18-ft tide.
Gary Dickens, Entergy’s vice president of capital projects, said in testimony that a floating power plant has advantages. The cost to raise existing land or build the plant on a structure tall enough to allow similar surge protection “is cost prohibitive,” he said. The floating barge can rise and fall into place with the tide or storm waves. Also, the power plant could be moved to another location if needed, he said.
Put the advantages and disadvantages of the project
Entergy considered building transmission improvements and additional substations as an alternative, but said the current project is on par with other options considered, especially with the major challenges in building transmission through wetlands and water open in the area.
Several environmental and user interest groups, including the Louisiana Energy Users Group, the Alliance for Affordable Energy and the Southern Renewable Association, have notified the commission who will “take part” in the presentation to comment on the project. The Sierra Club told ENR it also plans to intervene, but declined to elaborate on its position. A date has not yet been set for stakeholders to submit comments.
But in comments to an environmental advocacy publication, the Alliance’s executive director, Logan Burke, raised concerns that utilities’ reliance on fossil fuel technology will worsen climate change. The online publication also said a $210 million gas-fired power plant built in 2020 by an Entergy subsidiary in New Orleans with claimed fast-start capability took nearly three days to come online after the hurricane Departure in 2021.
The project would directly address the needs of critical fossil fuel infrastructure customers at Port Fourchon, which serves 90% of all deepwater oil and gas activity in the Gulf of Mexico and provides more than 18% of the supply of USA through its oil services and pumping infrastructure. according to Entergy. The area is currently served by a transmission line after two previous storms damaged another line that was then removed.
The area includes the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the only deepwater oil import facility that is connected to 50 percent of US oil refineries, Entergy said. The project will add a resilient power source to the state grid and allow for storm restoration options with quick ramp-up and ramp-down capabilities, he said.
Floating power plants have been in use since the mid-1990s, but are having a resurgence, says Hamed Hossain, who heads Siemens Energy’s floating power plant business, which is building combined-cycle turbines on barges with a power which ranges between 150 MW and 450 MW. .
According to the company, the power plants are equipped with efficient and low-emission technologies and can be installed on various types of floating devices such as simple barges, oil and gas platforms and floating production and offloading units.
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