LAFAYETTE, La. — Lafayette Utilities System (LUS) hosted a kickoff ceremony at the Louis “Doc” Bonin Electric Generating Station Tuesday morning.
The ceremony kicked off the Bonin Redevelopment Project before demolishing the existing Bonin station, which will occur later this year. LUS plans to build a new power plant at the existing Bonin operations center because of anticipated loss of electricity from the Rodemacher Power Station Unit 2 (RPS2) near Boyce, Louisiana, according to an LUS spokesperson.
The new plant, Bonin 4, will provide a local source of electricity for the Lafayette community.
More information about the project can be found here.
Louis J. “Doc” Bonin was renowned for his wardrobe of starched khakis and a leather bow tie as well as his warm demeanor and kindness toward his colleagues. He began his distinguished career with LUS in 1924 as a lineman. He later went on to serve as the electric distribution superintendent until his passing in 1959.
In recognition of his dedication, the Electric Generating Station was named after him. Opening with Unit No. 1 in 1965, the site eventually expanded to three natural gas fired steam turbines and three cooling towers. The station stopped generating electricity in 2013, was formally retired in 2017, and is currently being used as an operations center for LUS.
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