Entergy expects to close its Baxter Wilson power plant by late spring, a spokesperson for the utility authority said.

“We have projected the deactivation date for Baxter Wilson for Unit 1 of May 31, 2022,” spokesperson Mara Hartmann said.

The plant is located on Kemp Bottom Road off Warrenton Road.

The plant’s deactivation comes as Entergy announced a decision to shut down some of its aging natural gas power generating plants over the next five years and expand its use of renewable energy sources, such as solar power.
Entergy said in a news release that it will add 500 megawatts of renewable power by 2025 and another 500 megawatts by 2027. Entergy Mississippi is calling its expansion of renewable sources EDGE, which stands for Economic Development with Green Energy.

The company said renewable sources currently make up less than 1 percent of its power generating capability, indicating that would grow to about 17 percent by 2025 and almost 33 percent in 2027.
The deactivation will also affect property tax revenues for Warren County, the Vicksburg Warren School District and the city of Vicksburg.

Warren County Assessor Ben Luckett said the Mississippi Department of Revenue puts the assessed value of the plant at $21,209,297. If Baxter Wilson is shut down, he said, it means the county could lose a total of $3,258,809 in tax revenue. That’s $1,408,085 for the school district, $1,089,734 for the county and $760,990 for the city.

Luckett said state revenue officials said a power plant’s value is based on the amount of power it produces and how well it’s operating.

“So if it’s not running, they (the state) might take it completely off,” he said.

The school district and local governments took a hit in fiscal 2020 after Entergy in 2018 deactivated one of Baxter Wilson’s two units, forcing the state to reduce its value.

The 55-year-old power plant was built in 1967 as a dual fuel plant to burn either fuel oil and natural gas.