The demand for energy is greater now than ever before. From more household electronic devices to businesses expanding operations in the state, customers’ energy needs are growing. Whether you’re flipping the light switch on at home or firing up machinery at the office, you expect power to be there when and where you need it. And we’re making sure it is by modernizing our power generation fleet, retiring legacy plants and building new, more efficient power sources, like the power plant we’re planning in Ridgeland, Mississippi. This new plant will strengthen the power grid and provide long-term reliability for all our customers, for decades to come.

Our newest advanced power station

The Ridgeland power plant project in Madison County includes a 760-megawatt natural gas-fired combined-cycle combustion turbine power plant and a substation capable of transmitting power from the plant to the electric grid. This advanced technology is safe, clean and quiet.

Location: The planned location is on the border of Hinds and Madison counties north of West County Line Road in Ridgeland, Mississippi between Livingston Road and the Natchez Trace Parkway, adjacent to an existing high-voltage transmission corridor.

Footprint: The plant will occupy about one-eighth, or roughly 75 acres, of the 585-acre property, with room to provide ample setback and buffer from the road and residential areas. The footprint of the plant and substation combined is about one-third of the total property.

Technology: Combined-cycle combustion turbine natural gas technology is modern and efficient, providing reliable, low-cost energy which directly translates to fuel savings for customers. This proven technology also has a lower emission rate and produces more power for the same amount of fuel than other natural gas plants we have operated throughout our 100-year history.

Construction: From identifying the need to starting operations, it takes about seven years to plan and build a power plant. Construction on this more than $1 billion investment will occur over about four years. Site work will begin mid- to late summer with construction starting in 2026 and an expected in-service date in 2029.

Why here, why now?

Our transmission system is the backbone of the electric grid. It helps move power from power plants to the lines serving customers’ homes and businesses, across an interconnected system of transmission lines and substations.

If the grid and the flow of power were compared to our highway system, transmission lines would be the interstates, substations would be the off-ramps and distribution lines would be the streets and roads that lead to homes and businesses.

Many factors help determine where we can locate a new power plant.

  • We need enough land to accommodate the facility and operate it safely among the surrounding area.
  • It must be located near large transmission lines so power can flow to the electric grid – and those lines must be able to accommodate more power at that juncture.
  • Connecting to the grid through an existing transmission corridor maximizes a reliable connection, enhances the overall power supply and helps manage costs for all customers.

This site is the best location for our next power plant.

The existing high-voltage transmission corridor in this area is comprised of 115kV, 230kV and 500kV lines, the first of which was built in 1946. Additional lines were built in the mid-80s and early 90s as the metro Jackson area and power needs grew. This corridor provides an ideal interconnection point for a power plant.

Adding a plant to our fleet is necessary to serve our customers and ensure long-term reliability of the power grid. The Ridgeland site fulfills all the requirements to drive operational efficiencies while maintaining the lowest possible costs for our customers. If the plant were built in another location, it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars more to build the infrastructure needed to connect it to a similar high-voltage transmission corridor. Since that infrastructure already exists at this Ridgeland site, locating the plant here saves all our customers money.

Quality of life

We are committed to being a good neighbor and know that maintaining quality of life is important for residents who live near electric grid infrastructure.

Utilities are highly regulated, and we operate our facilities in accordance with all local, state and federal regulations, including those that address health and environmental impacts. This plant will have lower emissions, use minimal groundwater and will reduce the overall impact on the environment. We also take measures to minimize noise and ensure the property is maintained to appropriate standards.

We will complete an environmental impact assessment, traffic, sound, air quality and other appropriate studies to ensure impacts and disruptions are limited and fall within acceptable limits set by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Mississippi Department of Transportation and other relevant agencies.

Our project development process includes seeking feedback from the community to incorporate into our plans. We are eager to share those plans as they develop and look forward to continued engagement with the community.

Please continue to check this page for additional updates as this project progresses.