Entergy Louisiana restoring 200 miles of power lines in Jefferson Parish

WESTWEGO, La (WGNO) — Entergy Louisiana is promising shorter wait times for its customers who lose power after a storm.

The company is investing more than $200 million over the next five years to strengthen nearly 200 miles of transmission and distribution lines in Jefferson Parish.

Entergy Louisiana representatives and local officials celebrate the beginning of phase one of Entergy’s comprehensive grid resilience plan in Jefferson Parish.

“You’ll see wood poles that are built to withstand 140 mile-per-hour winds. You’re also going to see composites made from materials that are stronger, and steel and concrete poles as well,” said Entergy Louisiana President and CEO Phillip May. “It really is building that stronger grid that can withstand that next storm.”

Jefferson Parish is particularly dependent on its seafood industry, which helps contribute more than $1 billion annually to the state’s economy.

“Well, we need it for our freezers, we need it for our credit card machines, food stamp machines,” said Derona Melerine, the owner of Dee’s Seafood. “Without electricity, we can’t function with everything else.”

By reducing restoration costs and outages, Entergy Louisiana officials say the grid-hardening project will help shorten evacuations and time away from work.

“That’s our number one thing, is getting back to work after a storm, because it takes so long,” said Melerine. “Without power, we can’t get ice, you know, power is the root of what we need to get going.”

Entergy Louisiana customers should be able to benefit from these upgrades as soon as next year.

“So, as soon as the next hurricane season, we’re going to see parts of the grid that are more resilient, stronger, are able to get back up more quickly,” explained May. “But these investments over time will mean the entire grid across the entire state will then be able to get up more quickly following a storm.”

The plan is expected to save the company about $1 billion by avoiding future storm restoration costs.

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