Fortifying the Grid – Utility Companies Reason with Hurricane Season 

by Madelaine Brauner Landry  

Those of us who live in Louisiana embrace all the joie-de-vivre our state offers . . . good food, good music, and passing a good time. However, living so close to the Gulf Coast, we also experience the not-so-good times that come with devastating weather events. We grow weary being the perennial victims of tropical storms, hurricanes, floods, ice storms, and other major weather hazards. When these occur, we either evacuate or hunker down, often without access to our electric or gas utilities. Living without power makes recovery miserable, or inconvenient at the very least. And utility providers obviously cannot control the weather. What are their latest plans for securing our fragile utility infrastructure to deal with nature’s unpredictability? 

Entergy Plans for the Future 

This past April, the Louisiana Public Service Commission approved Entergy Louisiana’s spending proposal for the first phase of its “Future Ready Resilience Plan.” The vote allows Entergy to charge $1.9 billion to its customers to pay for “grid-hardening” projects. Some critics of the plan claim it should include a wider variety of data-driven solutions, according to the website lailluminator.com. However, Entergy Senior Communication Specialist, David Freese, says that recent data demonstrates that Entergy “is on an upward trajectory across its service territory in Louisiana, with the company achieving a remarkable 22% statewide improvement in electric service reliability from 2022 to 2023. This significant leap forward, measured by data that includes how often the average customer experiences an interruption outside of major weather events, shows that Entergy’s multifaceted approach to operating, maintaining, strengthening, and upgrading the electric system is working.” 

Entergy Louisiana executive Larry Hand appeared before the Public Service Commission in April to present the company’s latest projects, which includes replacing or upgrading approximately 69,000 utility poles and other structures across the state. Entergy Louisiana spokesman Brandon Scardigli says, “In total, the plan will strengthen approximately 3,238 miles of power line. Further, the plan includes approximately 100 miles of underground power lines, roughly 3% of the total line being strengthened.” 

Consumer advocacy groups like the Alliance for Affordable Energy want to ensure that consumers will benefit from the approved price increases. Their job is to sift through the proposal’s details to determine what kinds of projects will be delivered and to determine how utility companies, like Entergy, prioritize their projects. Why, for example, are both over- and underground utility poles being used? They cite the decreases in power outages in other Gulf Coast states like Florida that have gone underground. This debate is hardly new in the electric utility sector, but Entergy notes that digging and entrenching on the front end means the costs can range from 4-14 times more expensive than replacing overhead lines. There are also long-term maintenance costs to consider, especially in a state where significant flooding often occurs.  

But underground is not off the table, Scardigli continues. “Undergrounding is significantly more expensive, however by undergrounding strategically, we can harden more for the same level of investment. We received stakeholder and expert feedback about the costs and benefits, and to keep prices down, but still deliver meaningful resilience, a combination of strategic undergrounding and overhead hardening has been determined to provide the most affordable resilience solution for our customers.” 

While celebrating the strides made in strengthening electric service reliability, Entergy understands the evolving challenges posed by intensifying weather events. “As storms grow in frequency and ferocity, the imperative to fortify the grid becomes even more pressing,” Freese says. “Looking ahead, Entergy remains steadfast in its commitment to safeguarding the communities it serves and bolstering local economies against future storms.” Freese invites Entergy’s customers to find additional updates at www.entergy.com/brightfuturela. 

BECi Stands Resilient in Adversity 

In the wake of Hurricane Laura, Beauregard Electric Co-op Inc. (BECi) undertook a monumental task to reconstruct and fortify the power grid. The company strove not only to restore, but also enhance, the reliability and resilience of the power infrastructure. 

Post-Hurricane Laura, BECi mobilized its workforce, deploying teams of skilled technicians and engineers to assess the extent of the damage and execute a comprehensive restoration plan. Despite such obstacles such as downed power lines, flooded substations, and widespread debris, BECi personnel worked around the clock to restore power. But BECi’s efforts didn’t stop at mere restoration. 

Recognizing the need for long-term resilience, BECi implemented strategic upgrades and reinforcements to mitigate future risks. This included: 

• Replacing outdated equipment with state-of-the-art technology. 
• Reinforcing power poles and transmission towers. 
• Putting vegetation management programs in place to reduce localized outages caused by falling tree limbs. This was also impacted by last year’s fires and drought. 

BECi not only rebuilt the power grid, but also fostered a sense of unity and collaboration within the community. “We’ll always be grateful for the power providers from all over the country who sent trucks and crews to help restore power in our service area,” said Kay Fox, vice president of marketing and member services. “We’re stronger now than we were before Hurricane Laura. We’ve also upgraded this year to a new texting system that gives members real-time information about outages and restoration of service when there are storms and other weather-related outages.”