Entergy asks FEMA for $450M for more resilient electric grid
Entergy asks FEMA for $450M for more resilient electric grid
FILE- A worker stands by to guide a spool of electrical wire being loaded onto his truck before heading out at dawn, inside a tent city for electrical workers in Amelia, La., on Sept. 17, 2021. Louisiana’s largest power company is asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency for $450 million to make its electric grid more resilient, under a program to help communities prepare for hurricanes and other extreme weather. Entergy Corp.’s eight grant applications include three of the four projects that were in a $39.5 million package rejected last year. This year it’s submitting each of the three as a separate application, a spokesman said Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - A twisted tower that carried crucial electrical feeder lines to the New Orleans metro area lies collapsed in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Bridge City, La., on, Sept. 1, 2021. Louisiana’s largest power company is asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency for $450 million to make its electric grid more resilient, under a program to help communities prepare for hurricanes and other extreme weather. Entergy Corp.’s eight grant applications include three of the four projects that were in a $39.5 million package rejected last year. This year it’s submitting each of the three as a separate application, a spokesman said Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - A twisted tower that carried crucial electrical feeder lines to the New Orleans metro area lies collapsed in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Bridge City, La., on Sept. 1, 2021. Louisiana’s largest power company is asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency for $450 million to make its electric grid more resilient, under a program to help communities prepare for hurricanes and other extreme weather. Entergy Corp.’s eight grant applications include three of the four projects that were in a $39.5 million package rejected last year. This year it’s submitting each of the three as a separate application, a spokesman said Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, FIle)
FILE- A worker stands by to guide a spool of electrical wire being loaded onto his truck before heading out at dawn, inside a tent city for electrical workers in Amelia, La., on Sept. 17, 2021. Louisiana’s largest power company is asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency for $450 million to make its electric grid more resilient, under a program to help communities prepare for hurricanes and other extreme weather. Entergy Corp.’s eight grant applications include three of the four projects that were in a $39.5 million package rejected last year. This year it’s submitting each of the three as a separate application, a spokesman said Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE- A worker stands by to guide a spool of electrical wire being loaded onto his truck before heading out at dawn, inside a tent city for electrical workers in Amelia, La., on Sept. 17, 2021. Louisiana’s largest power company is asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency for $450 million to make its electric grid more resilient, under a program to help communities prepare for hurricanes and other extreme weather. Entergy Corp.’s eight grant applications include three of the four projects that were in a $39.5 million package rejected last year. This year it’s submitting each of the three as a separate application, a spokesman said Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - A twisted tower that carried crucial electrical feeder lines to the New Orleans metro area lies collapsed in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Bridge City, La., on, Sept. 1, 2021. Louisiana’s largest power company is asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency for $450 million to make its electric grid more resilient, under a program to help communities prepare for hurricanes and other extreme weather. Entergy Corp.’s eight grant applications include three of the four projects that were in a $39.5 million package rejected last year. This year it’s submitting each of the three as a separate application, a spokesman said Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - A twisted tower that carried crucial electrical feeder lines to the New Orleans metro area lies collapsed in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Bridge City, La., on, Sept. 1, 2021. Louisiana’s largest power company is asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency for $450 million to make its electric grid more resilient, under a program to help communities prepare for hurricanes and other extreme weather. Entergy Corp.’s eight grant applications include three of the four projects that were in a $39.5 million package rejected last year. This year it’s submitting each of the three as a separate application, a spokesman said Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - A twisted tower that carried crucial electrical feeder lines to the New Orleans metro area lies collapsed in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Bridge City, La., on Sept. 1, 2021. Louisiana’s largest power company is asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency for $450 million to make its electric grid more resilient, under a program to help communities prepare for hurricanes and other extreme weather. Entergy Corp.’s eight grant applications include three of the four projects that were in a $39.5 million package rejected last year. This year it’s submitting each of the three as a separate application, a spokesman said Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, FIle)
FILE - A twisted tower that carried crucial electrical feeder lines to the New Orleans metro area lies collapsed in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Bridge City, La., on Sept. 1, 2021. Louisiana’s largest power company is asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency for $450 million to make its electric grid more resilient, under a program to help communities prepare for hurricanes and other extreme weather. Entergy Corp.’s eight grant applications include three of the four projects that were in a $39.5 million package rejected last year. This year it’s submitting each of the three as a separate application, a spokesman said Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, FIle)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana’s largest power company is asking the Federal Emergency Management Agency for $450 million to make its electric grid more resilient, under a program to help communities prepare for hurricanes and other extreme weather.
Entergy Corp.’s eight grant applications include three of the four projects that were in a $39.5 million package rejected last year. This year it’s submitting each of the three as a separate application, a spokesman said Thursday.
Some of its projects would protect several south Louisiana substations from floods, the company said in a news release Wednesday. It said others would reconfigure and harden transmission facilities serving Houma and surrounding areas and upgrade distribution facilities in New Orleans and lower Plaquemines Parish to withstand stronger winds.
Company spokesman Brandon Scardiglia said Thursday he could not provide a list of proposed projects with the amounts requested for each because FEMA and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness asked that details remain private.
FEMA had $500 million for Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities planning and project grants last year, and received applications totaling $3.6 billion.
This year, $1 billion is available.
The grants Entergy applied for would cover work beyond an estimated $4 billion needed to repair damage from the hurricanes of 2020 and 2021, The Times-Picayune / The New Orleans Advocate reported.
Entergy’s application covers both Entergy Louisiana, which has 1.1 million electric customers, and Entergy New Orleans, which has 205,000. The utilities also provide gas service.
It took more than a week to restore power to all of New Orleans after Hurricane Ida, and much longer in areas nearer Ida’s landfall, including Houma.
Entergy wants to strengthen overhead distribution lines from a substation near the Superdome to withstand winds up to 140 miles per hour (225 kilometers per hour). In more exposed lower Plaquemines Parish, it wants to beef up substations and distribution lines for winds up to 150 mph (241 kph), the news release said.
“Entergy New Orleans is committed to making proactive investments to build a more resilient grid to ensure our communities are better protected from the impacts of stronger, more intense storms that may disrupt power,” said Deanna Rodriguez, president and CEO of Entergy New Orleans. “Building electrical infrastructure strong enough to withstand the increased intensity and frequency of storms is an important decision that must balance affordability, reliability and environmental sustainability.”
Last year’s request covered flood protection at substations in the Barataria area of Jefferson Parish, Laplace in St. Charles Parish, and Toomey and Mossville in Calcasieu Parish. This time, Entergy is asking for grants to install flood protection barriers and associated equipment to protect the substations in Calcasieu and St. Charles parishes, the news release said.
“Entergy Louisiana will continue to focus our investments on building a more resilient grid,” said Phillip May, president and CEO of Entergy Louisiana. “As we do, we will work with local, state and Federal entities to seek out funding opportunities that will ease the burden of these costs from falling on our customers.”