Big Cajun II Unit 4

Big Cajun II Unit 4 is a proposed coal plant in New Roads, Louisiana. The Big Cajun II Power Plant facility is a three-unit, 1,730 megawatt (MW) coal generating station. In 2005, Louisiana Generating, a subsidiary of NRG Energy, proposed adding a fourth, 705-MW, supercritical unit that will burn low-sulfur coal. In August 2005, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality issued a Title V operating permit, Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit, Acid Rain Permit and associated Environmental Assessment Statement. A public hearing was held on January 18, 2007. NRG filed for a permit modification application to allow the unit to burn a different type of coal in January 2007.

In an NRG conference call on Feb. 28, 2008, Robert Flexon - NRG's CFO - stated that the company had abandoned the Big Cajun II Unit 4 project, due to the fact that the company had only been able to contract out 450 of the plant's 705 MW.

On May 7, 2009, the Louisiana DEQ issued the draft modified Title V permit for public notice and comment for Louisiana Generating's new coal-fired unit at its Big Cajun II plant in Pointe Coupee Parish. The new permit will incorporate a determination of the maximum available control technology for hazardous air pollutants and plant revisions needed in order add a second fuel supply (high-sulfur bituminous coal). The agency is holding a public hearing on June 11, 2009 and written comments are due by June 16, 2009.

In late February 2010, NRG submitted its Title V operating permit renewal application for its Big Cajun II facility to the Louisiana DEQ. In its application, the company stated it was not going to construct a fourth unit at the facility and asked the agency to remove emission limits and related operating requirements associated with the new unit. In the past year, there has been little forward movement on the proposed 705-MW unit, which, if built, would have emitted over seven million tons of CO2 into the air each year.

Project Details
Sponsor: NRG Location: New Roads, Louisiana Capacity: 705 MW Type: Supercritical Projected in service: 2009 Status: Abandoned

Financing

 * Citibank
 * Merrill Lynch
 * Morgan Stanley

Citizen Groups

 * Louisiana Sierra Club – Delta Chapter, energy-issues [at] louisiana.sierraclub.org

Related SourceWatch Articles

 * Big Cajun I
 * Big Cajun II Power Plant
 * Louisiana and coal
 * Carbon Capture and Storage
 * Existing U.S. Coal Plants
 * US proposed coal plants (both active and cancelled)
 * Coal plants cancelled in 2007
 * Coal plants cancelled in 2008
 * State-by-state guide to information on coal in the United States (or click on the map)