City Council OKs 3 grid-hardening projects
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New Orleans City Council on Tuesday moved ahead with approvals on just over $100 million in the first grid-hardening projects greenlighted since Entergy proposed $1 billion in improvements last April.
Why it matters: The decision represents an alternative pace and process to Entergy New Orleans' proposed Operation Gridiron, a collection of more than 600 projects aimed at improving the city's power grid over the next decade.
State of play: No one disagrees that New Orleans needs a stronger, more resilient power infrastructure. The average age of the city's current grid is about 70 years.
- But what Entergy New Orleans and City Council members tangled over was the process by which grid-hardening projects would be greenlighted for funding and implementation, as well as the state of ongoing grid maintenance and a marketing campaign that Councilman JP Morrell called "disingenuous."
What happened: Entergy New Orleans had proposed starting with a $559 million spend on what it termed Phase 1 of the billion-dollar plan.
- But on Tuesday, City Council approved a $106 million spend, half of which is federal grant-funded, on three projects, and an ask that Entergy New Orleans propose grid-hardening projects on a shorter, batch-focused cadence.
- That option, council members said, would allow for greater public input and accountability, even if it does end up being more expensive in the long-run.
- The council plan also includes the federal Justice40 requirement, which requires a minimum 40% of benefits impact disadvantaged communities.
The projects greenlighted Tuesday, which will impact ratepayers' bills by about $1.52 by 2028, include:
- Rebuilding the transmission line running parallel to the I-10 twin span, identified as the primary source of Hurricane Ida-related outages.
- Creating the city's first grid-scale battery energy storage system as part of the New Orleans Solar Station.
- And rebuilding the Sherwood Forest distribution grid by replacing poles and wires in New Orleans East.
The other side: Entergy New Orleans representatives maintained that a broader scope was the better option, despite the estimated cost and potential for going over-budget.
- "This is not free. This is not cheap. I don't want to suggest that a billion dollar-investment for the city of New Orleans … would be something customers don't notice," said Entergy New Orleans vice president of regulatory affairs Courtney Nicholson.
- In a statement provided after Tuesday's meeting, Entergy New Orleans president and CEO Deanna Rodriguez called the initial projects a great start for New Orleans East.
- "To protect customers everywhere else in the city and to prepare for hurricane season, we need to do the hard work of replacing 26,000 distribution poles," she said, asking for approval of the more than 660 remaining projects. "There is a cost to this, but the cost of inaction and delay is dramatically worse."
What's next: Tuesday's resolution will go in front of the full City Council for adoption on Feb. 22.