Cleco rep reports on St. Mary Energy Center operation

Kevin Switzer, Cleco’s general manager of construction management, announced Tuesday a tentative date for the St. Mary Energy Center to be operational.
Switzer told Franklin Rotarians that he thought the SMEC could be up and working as soon as July 4.
He defined the SMEC as a joint fuel diversification project between Cleco and Cabot Corporation.
He said it came to fruition in 2011 after Cleco saw two of its three generating units retired at their Teche facility and Cabot required additional environmental controls for their flue gas.
Switzer broke down the functional components of the $135 million project like this: “Cabot is going to take the heat from their stack, run it through a boiler, bring steam to turn the turbine and that will make power.”
According to Switzer, at its peak construction requirement, the SMEC was providing 385 construction jobs through Cleco alone.
“Cleco is constructing and will own and operate a generator that produces 50 megawatts of power using waste heat from Cabot Corporation’s carbon black plant, enough energy to power 17,000 homes without increasing emissions,” he said.
Switzer closed by explaining that the new facility will be “carbon-neutral,” not renewable, but without a carbon footprint.