Mississippi Energy Institute President Patrick Sullivan authored this sponsored post.
A local writer recently questioned Mississippi’s need for the Grand Gulf Nuclear Station in Port Gibson. The writer cites the cost and duration of recent upgrades and outages at the facility as reason to question its economic benefits to Entergy Mississippi’s almost half million customers.
Brought online in 1985, the
1,443-megawatt plant has been an energy and economic powerhouse for
Mississippi. For years, it was the lowest cost energy in the State of
Mississippi and efforts are under way to continue this trend for years to come.
From a local economic perspective,
Entergy residential customers are paying some of the lowest electricity rates
offered in the U.S. With Grand Gulf in its generation mix, Entergy Mississippi
recently celebrated more than a decade of residential rates well below the
state and national averages -- recently hitting 24% below the U.S. average. In
2016, Entergy Mississippi had the second lowest rates of all investor-owned
utilities in the U.S.
As for jobs and tax revenue, Grand
Gulf employs over 700 at the plant with another 300-person office for Entergy’s
national nuclear headquarters in north Jackson. These are the types of
high-paying blue and white collar jobs that are not replaceable when gone.
While the facility is in Claiborne County, taxes paid by Grand Gulf span 45
counties, providing a steady, significant local revenue stream for more than
half of Mississippi counties.
In 2016, after an extensive review of all segments of the plant, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) granted Entergy a 20-year license extension of Grand Gulf through 2044. That is great news for our state and the local community.
To prepare for that extended life,
Entergy has embarked on an extensive, multi-year set of upgrades to support the
plant operating safely, securely and reliably for the long-term. As with any
set of complex engineering projects -- especially on the largest single-unit nuclear power plant in the country and
fifth largest in the world -- some of those upgrades have gone as
planned and some have taken longer than expected.
All the while, as per
Mississippi’s citizen/professional regulatory model, the Mississippi Public
Utilities Staff hired consultants to review the costs while the elected
Commissioners have received regular briefings on the progress and challenges.
In addition, the NRC continues to monitor and review Grand Gulf to ensure it
operates safely and reliably and has recently acknowledged the challenges
associated with the upgrades.
Ultimately, Grand Gulf’s emissions-free,
clean power is more important looking ahead. With the change of
Administrations, carbon dioxide emissions is at the forefront of energy and
environmental policy debates. What is coming in the form of new federal laws or
regulation is not exactly known, but we know the aim will be for lower
emissions. With Grand Gulf being, by a long shot, the largest emissions-free
generation source in Mississippi, taking this asset out of production would be
punitive for the state under whatever new scheme is developed for air emissions
restrictions. Further, many corporations are increasingly looking to site new
facilities in areas where there is access to low-priced, emissions-free power.
There is no better time to invest in the continuation of Grand Gulf as part of
Entergy Mississippi’s power portfolio to complement the other types of
generation from natural gas or solar.
Over the last 35 years, Grand Gulf Nuclear Station has proven to be a cost-effective facility with enormous economic benefit. Despite recent challenges, Grand Gulf should and will continue to be a beneficial part of Mississippi’s energy and economic future well into the future.
