PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, a generation and transmission cooperative serving Escambia River Electric Cooperative’s wholesale power needs, officially dedicated the new, state-of-the-art Lowman Energy Center in a special ceremony on March 22.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey attended the event in Leroy, Alabama, to celebrate the 710-megawatt natural gas facility, which began commercial operation on September 20, 2023.
“History is being made today,” Kay says of LEC’s completion and status as 1 of the most efficient power plants in the United States. “America’s future is dependent upon its access to abundant industry, including electricity. Economic development and thousands of new, good-paying jobs—both here in Alabama and for our neighbors in Florida—are directly tied to projects like the Lowman Energy Center.”
EREC CEO Ryan Campbell was on-site to celebrate the dedication of the plant, which replaces the historic coal-fired Charles R. Lowman Power Plant that operated for 51 years.
“LEC is a tremendous accomplishment for PowerSouth and a blessing for our area,” Ryan says. “The power it generates will supply our members around the clock, especially on cold winter mornings or extremely hot summer afternoons when other generation sources may not be available.
“Natural gas is also abundant and, for the most part, affordable, so LEC will help to keep down our members’ electric bills as much as possible.”
PowerSouth President and CEO Gary Smith says the plant will be a workhorse in supporting the cooperative’s mission to provide reliable and affordable power to its members.
“LEC is not only very efficient, but it also has access to a very good, affordable gas supply,” Gary says. “PowerSouth has 20 members in Alabama and Florida, and I want to thank them for their confidence and support in allowing us to move forward in building this plant. It will be there for them to serve their wholesale power needs for decades. We are excited about LEC and excited about the future.”
Collectively, PowerSouth’s distribution members, including EREC, supply safe, reliable and affordable power to more than a million end-of-line members.