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Just weeks before Hurricane Ida electrified most of Louisiana, it exposed its residents to hazards. extreme heat and humidityThe CEO of Entergy, the state’s largest utility company, told Wall Street that it has upgraded its power lines and equipment to withstand major storms.
“Bringing more flexibility to our system is an ongoing focus,” executive Leo P. Denault told financial analysts on an August 4 conference call. loading and flood levels.”
Mr. Denault’s statements were soon to be harshly tested. On the last Sunday in August, Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana, dealing a devastating blow to the power lines, towers and poles most of the Entergy had been built to withstand much weaker hurricanes decades ago. The company had not upgraded much of this equipment or replaced it with more modern equipment designed to withstand the 150 mph wind gust Ida brought to the state.
A hurricane like Ida would be a challenge for any power system built over the decades, featuring a mix of old and new equipment. But some energy experts said Entergy was clearly unprepared for the Category 4 storm, despite what executives said about efforts to strengthen its network.
The storm damaged eight high-voltage transmission lines powering New Orleans, as well as scores of the company’s towers statewide. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses were left without electricity for days. According to Entergy, Ida damaged or destroyed 31,000 poles carrying low-voltage distribution lines in neighborhoods, nearly twice that of Hurricane Katrina.
Legislators and regulators need public services to provide safe, reliable service at an affordable cost. The grid failure after Ida is the latest indicator of how energy companies are struggling to meet these obligations as climate change increases the frequency and severity of extreme weather events. In California, electricity providers have had to cut power to tens of thousands of customers in recent years to prevent their equipment from extinguishing wildfires and reduce energy demand during heat waves. In February, the grid malfunctioned during a winter storm across most of Texas, leaving millions of people without electricity and heat for days.
Entergy has developed its transmission network to withstand wind speeds in excess of 140 miles per hour, while many transmission equipment in and around New Orleans are built to withstand wind gusts of around 110 miles per hour or Category 2 storm, Portland, Ore, which advises energy companies and government agencies. According to an analysis of regulatory filings and other company records by McCullough Research, a US-based consulting firm.
Entergy said the analysis was inaccurate, but did not say how many of the transmission structures were built to withstand winds of 150 miles per hour. The company said its towers met the safety standards in effect at the time of installation, but older standards generally assumed wind speeds were well below 150 mph.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a professional group whose guidelines are widely followed by utilities and other industries, recommends that power companies operating in hurricane-vulnerable areas install equipment that can withstand major storms and quickly return to service when systems fail. In coastal areas of Louisiana, for example, he says large transmission equipment must be designed to withstand winds of 150 mph.
“It would be unacceptable for your customers to be without power for three or four weeks today,” said Nelson Bingel, chair of the National Electrical Safety Act, of the standards the group of engineers has developed for various industries.
Serving three million customers in Louisiana and three other states, Entergy’s decisions before Ida are coming under scrutiny as regulators, lawmakers and residents try to understand why so many people have been without power for so long. The New Orleans City Council, which oversees Entergy’s operation in the city, scheduled a hearing on Wednesday.
The key question is whether Entergy is moving fast enough to upgrade its equipment. the increasing ferocity of hurricanes. The company says it’s acting with enthusiasm. His critics claim he dragged his feet.
Residents said they may also question whether state regulators and city officials are doing enough to prompt Entergy to upgrade its equipment faster. The company has to get approval for new investments and electricity prices that meet them. Utilities regulators may require companies to increase their spending or target specific upgrades. Some energy experts have also suggested that regulators are considering asking utilities to put more power lines underground; this is an expensive approach that comes with its own problems.
Initial reviews focused on why Entergy took two days Restarting a $210 million natural gas plant The company said it will open in New Orleans last year. provide power during periods of high demand, including after the storm. But energy experts say the company’s shutdown of so many lines is even more of a concern – and it has done so for two years in a row.
Last year, Hurricane Laura, a Category 4 storm, destroyed and damaged hundreds of Entergy towers and pylons in Southwest Louisiana. In April, Entergy told the Louisiana Public Service Commission, which regulates its operations outside of New Orleans, that the company is retrofitting its equipment, including installing stronger distribution poles in coastal areas that are particularly vulnerable to high winds.
Michelle P. Bourg, responsible for transmission at Entergy’s Louisiana operations, told regulators that because it is too expensive to make the entire network resilient, Entergy pursues “targeted programs that cost-effectively reduce reliability risks.”
Entergy said in a statement that the transmission spending worked, noting that Ida destroyed or damaged 508 transmission structures compared to 1,909 during Laura and 1,003 at Katrina. The company added that its annual transmission investment in Louisiana and New Orleans has increased over the past eight years, reaching $926 million in 2020, where it spent heavily on repairs after Laura. The company spent $471 million on transmission in 2019.
“The facts of this storm support that since the storms that hit our system in the early 2000s, we have made significant progress in terms of resilience, both overall and specifically in terms of transmission,” said Entergy spokesman Jerry Nappi.
The company refused to provide the age of damaged or destroyed transmission structures and an age range for damaged distribution poles and equipment. Mr. Nappi acknowledged that the distribution poles had suffered extensive damage and were not built to withstand winds of 130 to 150 mph.
“As increasingly powerful storms hit with increasing frequency, significant additional investment will be required to reduce challenges and avoid prolonged outages,” he said in an email. “We are pursuing much-needed federal support for additional hardening without compromising the affordability of the electricity our customers and communities depend on.”
The company’s request for further assistance came as President Biden forced the nation’s electrical system to upgrade and expand to address climate change and strengthen equipment to respond to disasters. Part of his plan includes spending tens of billions of dollars on transmission lines. Mr. Biden also wants to provide incentives for clean energy sources like solar and wind power and batteries – the kind of improvements that community leaders in New Orleans have sought for years and Entergy has often turned down.
Susan Guidry, a former member of the New Orleans City Council, said she opposes the construction of the new gas plant, which is located in a low-lying area near neighborhoods composed mostly of African-Americans and Vietnamese-Americans. Instead, it pushed for upgrading the transmission and distribution system and investing more in solar and batteries. The council eventually approved Entergy’s plans for the facility, over objections.
“One of the things we discussed was that they should improve the transmission lines instead of building an overhead power plant,” said Ms. Guidry.
He also called on the company to replace the wooden poles in the neighborhoods with those made with stronger materials.
Robert McCullough, director of McCullough Research, said it’s hard to understand why Entergy isn’t renovating towers and pylons faster.
“Wooden posts no longer have the expected lifespan in the face of climate change,” he said. “Given the repeated failures, it would be cost-effective to replace them with more durable options that can withstand repeated Category 4 storms, including going to metal poles in many cases.”
Had some green energy activists invested more in Entergy’s transmission and distribution lines, solar panels, and battery systems, the city and state would not have suffered as widespread and prolonged power outages as after Ida.
“Entergy Louisiana needs to be held accountable for this,” said Logan Atkinson Burke, executive director of the Affordable Clean Energy Alliance, one of these activists.
Entergy argued that the natural gas plant is a much more affordable and reliable option than solar panels and batteries to provide electricity during periods of high demand.
Mr. Biden’s energy secretary, Jennifer Granholm, said Ida underlined the need for major investment in power grids. This may include putting more power lines underground serving homes and businesses. The burial wires would protect them from the wind, but could make access to the lines difficult during flooding.
“Obviously, while New Orleans is being rebuilt, some areas really need to be rebuilt better,” Ms. Granholm said in an interview this month.
Entergy spokesman Mr. Nappi said distribution lines in parts of New Orleans and elsewhere are already underground, but burying more would be expensive. “Distribution assets can be made to withstand extreme winds through engineering or grounding, but it comes with significant costs and disruption to customers and society,” he said.
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