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BATON ROUGE, La. – Entergy Louisiana and Entergy New Orleans, in coordination with The Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, have submitted eight grant applications to FEMA requesting funding for projects to enhance the resiliency of the electric grid through FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) Program.

The identified projects will provide flood protection to several substations in south Louisiana, reconfigure and harden transmission facilities serving Houma, La. and the surrounding areas, and upgrade distribution facilities in New Orleans and Lower Plaquemines Parish to withstand higher wind speeds. The total costs of the projects submitted is approximately $450 million.

Examples of projects submitted for consideration include:

• Installing flood protection barriers and associated flood mitigation equipment to substations in Calcasieu and St. Charles Parishes to prevent damage from a 500-year storm.
• Strengthening the overhead distribution lines from the Derbigny substation, which serves portions of New Orleans, to withstand winds up to 140 miles per hour, as well as substations and distribution lines in the more exposed Lower Plaquemines Parish, to withstand winds up to 150 miles per hour.

“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.”

“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.”

It is anticipated that FEMA will announce preliminary awards by Summer 2022.

Entergy New Orleans, LLC is an electric and gas utility that serves Louisiana’s Orleans Parish. The company provides electricity to more than 205,000 customers and natural gas to more than 108,000 customers. Entergy Louisiana, LLC provides electric service to approximately 1.1 million customers and natural gas service to more than 93,000 customers in the greater Baton Rouge area. It has operations in southern, central and northern Louisiana.

Entergy New Orleans and Entergy Louisiana are subsidiaries of Entergy Corporation, an integrated energy company engaged in electric power production, transmission and retail distribution operations. Entergy delivers electricity to 3 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy owns and operates one of the cleanest large-scale U.S. power generating fleets with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including 7,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, Entergy has annual revenues of $10 billion and approximately 12,500 employees. Learn more at entergy.com and follow @Entergy on social media.