NEW ORLEANS — Entergy Corporation is working closely with its customers across its entire service region, and recent announcements by major industrial companies have illustrated how clean and affordable electricity drives economic growth and increased investment in our communities.
“We are collaborating with our customers to meet their needs and help them achieve the outcomes they desire,” said Leo Denault, Entergy chairman and CEO. “They need energy solutions that are not only affordable and reliable, but increasingly clean, and we are delivering products to help them achieve their important environmental and sustainability objectives.”
Today, Sempra Infrastructure announced it has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Entergy Louisiana to supply roughly 300 megawatts of demand. This is the equivalent to the output of approximately 900 MW of new renewable energy capacity. This follows an announcement earlier in January by U.S. Steel that it selected Osceola, Arkansas as the location for its next-generation, highly sustainable advanced steel mill, which will be powered by increasingly renewable and clean electricity from Entergy Arkansas.
“The significant growth our customers are experiencing drives our investment portfolio on their behalf,” added Denault. “These customers have interim and long-term emissions reduction goals, and Entergy remains well-positioned to provide abundant amounts of clean, reliable, resilient and affordable power to achieve those goals.”
Located in the Gulf South, Entergy’s four-state service territory is home to the largest industrial base in the United States. The collective energy intensity of this group of customers is unique in comparison to other areas of the country. About 40% of Entergy’s electricity demand comes from industrial customers today, with significant growth potential as they look towards electrification from Entergy to help reduce their direct Scope 1 emissions.
Entergy’s utility operating companies provide power at rates well below the national average. Additionally, Entergy announced plans last year to triple its renewable energy portfolio over a three-year period, as well as achieve 11 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030. This powerful combination of low rates and increasingly clean power is helping our customers grow their businesses and meet their sustainability goals.
Entergy also has its own emissions reduction goals, including cutting in half its baseline carbon emissions rate by 2030, which is expected to be achieved several years sooner than originally planned, and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. The 2050 climate commitment includes all of Entergy’s businesses, all greenhouse gases and all scopes of greenhouse gas emissions.
One example of the investment in clean, renewable energy is Entergy Mississippi’s plan to replace some aging natural gas plants with 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy, such as solar power, over the next five years. The plan, announced in November, has the objectives of enabling Mississippi to gain an edge in recruiting industry while also safeguarding Entergy customers from volatile natural gas prices.
Entergy has also created new and innovative methods to help industrial customers meet their sustainability goals. While many of those customers have long-term net-zero carbon emissions goals, even more have developed shorter-term interim goals that require action by the next decade.
Clean electrification and green tariffs are two customer solutions opportunities Entergy is leveraging to help customers reduce their Scope 2 emissions.
For example, Entergy’s innovative Shore Power program enables marine vessels docked at the Gulf’s Port Fourchon, which plays a role in providing 20% of the nation’s oil supply, to replace their fossil fuel-generated ship power with clean electricity from Entergy’s grid while docked at port. The program facilitates significant reductions in carbon, sulfur oxides, and nitrogen oxides emissions when comparing emissions rates of marine diesel fuel to Entergy’s at-the-plug emissions rate.
Entergy is also seeking to facilitate the use of green tariffs for customers looking to meet energy and sustainability goals. More than 700 megawatts of combined new green tariff capacity have been proposed in Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi to help customers meet their own sustainability goals, and these tariffs will be scaled up based upon customers’ needs.
“The progress we’ve made reducing carbon emissions from our power generating portfolio is benefitting customers, communities and the environment now and in the future,” concluded Denault. “Working together with our customers, we will continue to power the economy of the Gulf region in a way that is cleaner than ever.”
