Dive Brief:

• Entergy expects its six utilities to see 2% to 2.25% annual electric sales growth in the next three years. Entergy's weather-adjusted sales increased 3.2% in the fourth quarter.
• About 2,400 MW of new industrial load is planned its the utilities' service territory, mainly along the Louisiana Gulf region, and peak load could grow by about 10%, officials said.
• For now, Entergy plans to hang onto its 5,000-MW nuclear power fleet, company officials said during a conference call with analysts.

Dive Insight:

Clearly, Entergy's regulated utilities have major growth opportunities. The company's unregulated fleet faces a murkier future.

“Despite the recent weather-driven runup in near-term prices, long-term, sustained, low-power and capacity prices continued to weigh on Fitzpatrick [838 MW in Scriba, New York] and Pilgrim [688 MW in Plymouth, Massachusetts] and, with it, Palisades [811 MW in Covert Township, Michigan] if not for the power purchase agreement through early 2022 that supports the plant's operating costs,” Entergy Chairman and CEO Leo Denault said.

Entergy has decided to keep its nuclear fleet. “Based on what we know today, is that we intend to own and operate this fleet for the foreseeable future,” Denault said. “We know there's a lot of uncertainty on this point, so we felt it was important to let you know that based on our current point of view, we have made no decision to close any other plants and are not actively considering selling any at this time.”