Part of Calpine ready to be shipped out

One of the transformers formerly located
at the Washington Parish Energy Center
is loaded on a specialty flat car for transit
to Needles, Calif. (Photo by John H. Walker) 

Updated Monday, 5/23

The Washington Parish Energy Center (WPEC) rises from the mix of sandy soil and red clay, just west of Bogalusa on the south side of Highway 10.

There was a bright future for the $300 million electric generating facility, but instead of creating electricity and jobs, it has instead stood silent — its voice muted by a depressed industry that sent its owners into bankruptcy.

This routing tag, attached to the car,
shows the car was loaded Friday
with a destination of Needles, Calif.
(Photo by John H. Walker)

Now, part of it is heading west to help bring another facility back on-line.

One of the transformers formerly located at the site sits on a drop-center — or depressed — flat car in Canadian National's South Yard in Bogalusa, ready to be shipped 1,700 miles away.

According to a load clearance card attached to the car, the transformer is headed for Needles, Calif., just a few miles from the South Point Energy Center. The specialized car was routed from Mobile, Ala. to Jackson, Miss., then down to Brookhaven and across to Wanilla before being delivered to Bogalusa.

"We have a facility near Needles,” Calpine employee Mike Fussell told wpnewsblog. "They lost a transformer and it was going to take it too long to repair it. Our company said, 'Hey, we've got one in Bogalusa we're not using' and that's how it all came together."

The concept for WPEC was originally developed by North Carolina-based Cogentrix, an independent power company. On Jan. 26, 2001, Calpine announced the acquisition of the 577 megawatt facility with a goal of having it operational in 2002.

But instead of generating power, WPEC's only public use has been as a staging area for power crews helping with the Hurricane Katrina clean-up and restoration.

As the $300 million facility was being developed, Calpine was forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, from which it eventually emerged.

In August 2006, Calpine responded to a request for proposal (RFP) by Entergy, which, at the time, was short on power — especially on the Northshore. While Entergy's generating capacity was severely limited, the company decided against new technology and decided to keep its power generation in-house and Calpine was unsuccessful — with the WPEC standing as a silent sentinel over the land around it.

(Published first at http://www.wpnewsblog.blogger.com)