Louisiana regulators approve Amite battery project

The decision grants the applicants a rare exemption from the state's market-based mechanism rules, which the Commission itself developed and adopted in October 2024 to protect consumers. Under these guidelines, electric utilities must use an open competitive bidding process—similar to a public auction—to find the lowest market price before building or contracting for new power resources.

The Commission voted to waive its own regulations, however, due to the projected benefit: the rapid addition of what it termed "low-cost" power to backstop the grid in a coastal area of Louisiana vulnerable to blackouts and supply outages.

The parent company backing Amite Solar and Amite Energy Storage, Florida-based NextEra Energy, stands as the world's largest producer of wind and solar power.

Commission Chairman Eric Skrmetta said he opposed the exemption because it left ratepayers vulnerable to unverified costs, arguing that he refused to let local citizens shoulder the financial burden of an un-reviewed project.

“If somebody wants to play, engage in experimentation, that’s great, I just don’t want them to do it on ratepayer money… and so I see this value as a significant value to NextEra,” Skrmetta said at the May 13 meeting. “I do because it makes sense to me that if somebody's going to have a turbine facility for wind turbines, or if they're going to have solar facilities that they should engage in this on their own nickel. I just don't want to see that burden put on my citizens.”

Standalone battery systems routinely face a five-year transmission study period before they can even be considered for grid access. But by utilizing a pre-existing 'surplus interconnection' at the Amite Solar site, the developers of the DEMCO project bypassed that wait to fast-track a system scheduled to be fully operational in 18 months.

While connecting a battery to an existing solar farm to save money is becoming the norm, using it to bypass a consumer protection law is not commonplace. Because federal rules give a solar developer exclusive access to the grid at a specific location like Amite, outside competitors were legally blocked from bidding. This left state regulators with a choice: either approve NextEra’s un-bid deal or leave the local community exposed to immediate power shortages.

Commissioner Mike Francis challenged the requirement that the deal be confidential, noting that the public cannot verify the actual costs of the contract.

“In this market, you’re looking at seven to 10 years,” testified Travis Stewart, a project consultant for the utility cooperative. Stewart explained that building a traditional power plant would require starting from scratch to purchase the necessary land, obtain environmental permits, and build out new natural gas delivery pipelines.

DEMCO representatives noted that the Amite storage project is scheduled for completion in just 18 months because it can piggyback onto the solar farm's grid footprint.

Democratic Commissioner Davante Lewis questioned the economic benefits of the project. Generally a supporter of clean energy, Lewis pressed utility representatives on the potential financial impact on local families. DEMCO staff spoke of the technical benefits of battery storage but admitted they could not formally confirm that the project met the state's "lowest reasonable cost standard" after the company skipped the competitive bidding process.

In the final order issued June 12, the Commission required that DEMCO provide strict pre- and post-construction reporting along with dynamic monitoring of the project’s financial performance and ratepayer impact. The Commission also warned other utilities that the fast-tracked waiver issued to DEMCO is an anomaly.

“The record reflects that the proposed project would provide tangible benefits, including reliability support within a constrained load pocket, increased resource diversity, and a meaningful speed-to-market advantage,” Vice Chairman Jean-Paul Coussan said before voting to approve the project. “The proposed resource still provides value.”