Louisiana utility regulators officially ended a plan by Entergy Louisiana to convert the 530 MW Little Gypsy natural gas-fired generating station to petroleum coke and allowed the utility to collect $200 million from ratepayers to pay for the cancelled project.

The plan to convert a generator from natural gas to petroleum coke was approved by the Public Service Commission in November 2007. Recent low natural gas prices, along with rising construction costs led Entergy Louisiana to suspend the project in late 2009. Estimated costs reportedly rose from $1 billion to $1.6 billion.

Read more news and features on gas-fired generation.