SHREVEPORT, La. — Southwestern Electric Power Co. recently marked 100 years of power generation at its Arsenal Hill Power Plant, a facility that remains part of the utility’s generation fleet in northwest Louisiana.
SWEPCO brought together more than 100 current employees, retirees and company leaders at the Shreveport plant to commemorate the anniversary and recognize employees who have worked at the facility during its century of operation.
“This milestone is a testament to the generations of employees who have powered Arsenal Hill day and night for the past 100 years,” plant manager David LaBrecque said. “Their dedication has helped us deliver the reliable energy our customers depend on every day.”
As part of the event, the company presented a historic brass nameplate from Arsenal Hill’s No. 2 generator, the plant’s first generating unit capable of producing power on a megawatt scale. The nameplate will be preserved and displayed at the facility.
The gathering also gave current and former employees an opportunity to reconnect and reflect on the plant’s history and its role in supplying electricity to the region.
Arsenal Hill continues to operate as a dispatchable generation resource, allowing SWEPCO to call on the facility for power during periods of high electricity demand and extreme weather.
The anniversary comes as SWEPCO continues investments in infrastructure and system improvements intended to support reliability and accommodate growing electricity demand.
Earlier this year, SWEPCO President and Chief Operating Officer Brett Mattison discussed the company’s reliability efforts with members of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee.
The company is “committed to building a stronger, more reliable system to meet customers’ needs in every season,” Mattison said.
SWEPCO, headquartered in Shreveport, serves more than 500,000 electricity customers in Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. The utility is part of American Electric Power.