Entergy Louisiana Moves Forward with Construction on State-of-the-art Generation Unit

BATON ROUGE, La., March 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Entergy Louisiana, LLC is moving forward with its plans to build a new gas-fired generating unit in Westwego, La.

Per recent approval by the Louisiana Public Service Commission, the utility has given Shaw Group Inc. full notice to proceed with construction of Ninemile Unit 6, a state-of-the-art 550-megawatt dual fuel combined cycle gas turbine generating unit at its existing Ninemile Point Station.

"At Entergy, our employees work hard every day to find new ways provide customers with safe, clean and reliable electric power," said Bill Mohl, president and chief executive officer of Entergy Louisiana, LLC and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C. "We generate electricity using a variety of fuels, including natural gas and nuclear. It's a successful strategy that's working for our customers, and the Ninemile plant will enhance this effort."

Subsidiaries of the Shaw Group will serve as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the construction of Ninemile Unit 6 and will work in conjunction with an in-house Entergy management team on the project.

The full notice to proceed with construction came after the LPSC's March 21 approval of Entergy Louisiana's and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana's application seeking certification to construct the unit. The two Entergy subsidiaries filed the application with the commission in June 2011.

The cost to construct the unit is currently estimated at $721 million and is expected to provide significant economic benefits to Jefferson Parish and its adjoining communities. The unit is expected to enter commercial operation the first part of 2015.

Entergy Louisiana will construct and own Ninemile Unit 6 and retain 55 percent of the capacity and energy output of the unit, while Entergy Gulf States Louisiana and Entergy New Orleans, Inc. will purchase 25 percent and 20 percent, respectively, of the capacity and energy of the unit via life-of-unit power purchase agreements.  

The state-of-the-art combined-cycle gas turbine unit will use modern pollution controls and technology to produce highly efficient, clean and reliable power and could produce fuel savings for customers ranging from $26 million to $53 million per year.

Through its advanced pollution-control systems, the unit will be among the cleanest natural gas-fired generating plants in the nation. Ninemile Unit 6 will further Entergy's position as one of the cleanest electric utilities in the country. Entergy's fleet emits significantly lower amounts of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide than the average utility in the country.

Entergy Louisiana and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana together serve more than one million customers. With operations in southern, central and northeastern Louisiana, the companies are part of Entergy Corporation's electric system serving 2.8 million customers in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas.             

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In this news release, and from time to time, Entergy Louisiana, LLC and Entergy Gulf States Louisiana, L.L.C. make certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Except to the extent required by the federal securities laws, Entergy undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties. There are factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, including (a) those factors discussed in: (i) Entergy Corporation's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 and (ii) Entergy Corporation's other reports and filings made under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; (b) uncertainties associated with rate proceedings, formula rate plans and other cost recovery mechanisms; (c) uncertainties associated with efforts to remediate the effects of major storms and recover related restoration costs; (d) nuclear plant relicensing, operating and regulatory risks, including any changes resulting from the nuclear crisis in Japan following its catastrophic earthquake and tsunami; (e) legislative and regulatory actions and risks and uncertainties associated with claims or litigation by or against Entergy Corporation and its subsidiaries; (f) conditions in commodity and capital markets during the periods covered by the forward-looking statements, in addition to other factors described elsewhere in this release and subsequent securities filings, and (g) risks inherent in the proposed spin-off and subsequent merger of Entergy Corporation's electric transmission business into a subsidiary of ITC Holdings Corp. Entergy Corporation cannot provide any assurances that the spin-off and merger transaction will be completed and cannot give any assurance as to the terms on which such transaction will be consummated. The spin-off and merger transaction is subject to certain conditions precedent, including regulatory approvals and approval by ITC Holdings Corp. shareholders.

SOURCE Entergy Louisiana, LLC