Entergy, grid operator promise earlier warnings after Memorial Day weekend outages
Why it matters: Utilities knew the grid was strained for at least 48 hours but didn't tell the public until the AC went out for about 100,000 customers on a hot holiday weekend.
The big picture: The May 25 event was an "extremely rare" transmission emergency, not a capacity issue, said Todd Hillman, senior VP and chief customer officer at Midcontinent Independent System Operator.
Speaking to the New Orleans City Council on Tuesday, Hillman likened the agency to air traffic controllers for the power grid.
There was enough power elsewhere, he said, but they couldn't get it to metro New Orleans to meet the demand. (MISO's full explanation)
To prevent outages spreading throughout the region, MISO told Entergy and Cleco to cut power by specific amounts within 30 minutes.
Entergy operators in Jackson, Mississippi, used models to select neighborhoods for the outage. (Timeline from Entergy New Orleans)
How it works: New Orleans is in a "pocket" in MISO's system, which makes it more difficult to get power to the area.
Think of the transmission lines like bridges accessing an island, Hillman said. When only two of the three bridges are working, traffic is limited.
MISO has done transmission line improvements elsewhere in its system, but there's a bottleneck in south Louisiana.
Improvement projects are still in the planning phases, MISO reps said Tuesday.
Friction point: Industrial customers use 70% of the state's power, according to Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis, who was in council chambers Tuesday for the committee meeting.
"I feel that there has been a priority by our utilities in favor of industrial customers at the expense of residential and commercial," Lewis said. "I think we have to have a big conversation about that."
Stunning stat: Louisiana's electricity customers experience more than 12 times as many hours of power outages than the national average, writes Axios' Chelsea Brasted.
What we're watching: New Orleans is working on ways to make itself more sustainable during power outages.
It has the Community Lighthouse project, and the council is looking at microgrids and virtual power plants.
These would use a network of solar panels and battery storage systems to serve as a backup to the grid if it goes down or there's a strain. Go deeper.
Council President JP Morrell tells Axios he expects the council to make a decision this year about the virtual power plants.
Zoom out: More communication has been an ongoing theme in recent council meetings.
Members want to get information to the public sooner, especially through the NOLA Ready text system.
Examples: The jail outbreak and neutral ground parking.
What's next: The Louisiana Public Service Commission will hear from MISO and Entergy Louisiana at its June 18 meeting about the power outages and the transmission situation.
Go deeper
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNBC
a day ago
- CNBC
Oil prices little changed as industry report points to slowing U.S. demand
Oil prices were little changed on Wednesday after falling in the previous session after an industry report showed U.S. crude stockpiles climbed last week illustrating the end of the seasonal summer demand period is nearing. Brent crude futures gained 3 cents to 66.15 a barrel at 0102 GMT after dropping 0.8% in the previous session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 3 cents to $63.14 after declining 1.2%. Crude inventories in the U.S., the world's biggest oil consumer, rose by 1.52 million barrels last week, market sources said, citing American Petroleum Institute figures on Tuesday. Gasoline inventories dropped while distillate inventories gained slightly. Should the U.S. Energy Information Administration data set for release later on Wednesday also show a decline, it could indicate that consumption during the summer driving season has peaked and refiners are easing back their runs. The demand season typically runs from the Memorial Day holiday at the end of May to the Labor Day holiday in early September. Analysts polled by Reuters expect the EIA report to show crude inventories fell by about 300,000 barrels last week. Outlooks issued by OPEC and the EIA on Tuesday pointed to increased production this year which also weighed on prices. But both expect output in the U.S., the world's largest producer, to decline in 2026 while other regions will increase oil and natural gas production. U.S. crude production will hit a record 13.41 million barrels per day in 2025 due to increases in well productivity, though lower oil prices will prompt output to fall in 2026, the EIA forecast in a monthly report. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' monthly report said global oil demand will rise by 1.38 million bpd in 2026, up 100,000 bpd from the previous forecast. Its 2025 projection was left unchanged. The White House on Tuesday tempered the expectations for a quick Russia-Ukraine ceasefire deal, which may lead investors to reconsider an end to the war soon and any easing on sanctions Russian supply, which had been supporting prices. U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are due to meet in Alaska on Friday to discuss ending the war. "Trump downplayed expectations of his meeting with President expectations of additional sanctions on Russian crude continue to fall," ANZ senior commodity strategist Daniel Hynes wrote in a note.
Axios
3 days ago
- Axios
How New Orleans can fix its low voter turnout
Over the last 20 years, New Orleanians have grown to feel a stronger connection to the city, while distancing themselves from its politics, according to a new report. Why it matters: That sets up an interesting framework as the city is poised to elect new leadership this fall. The big picture: The report, authored by Dillard University urban studies and public policy professor Robert Collins, is part of a collection of papers from the Data Center and the Brookings Institution examining how the metro has changed since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. To be a resilient community, Data Center chief demographer Allison Plyer says, New Orleans needs a diverse economy, access to wealth, wellness and social cohesion. What she's saying: "Social cohesion is critically important for coming together around community problem-solving after a disaster," Plyer said during a press briefing on the reports. Zoom in: Thrust into navigating the local, state and federal spotlight while rebuilding a city, Hurricane Katrina catalyzed a burst of civic engagement for New Orleanians, Collins argues. By the numbers: When New Orleans went to the polls for an April 2006 mayoral primary — despite all the post-Katrina challenges standing in their way to do so — voter turnout was 37.5%. It increased to 39.9% for the general election that followed in May. "Many residents believed that the new interest in civic life ... would spill over into politics. And for one election, it did," Collins writes. "But this heightened interest did not last. ... The 2006 mayor's election turned out to be a 20-year highwater mark." Voter participation has declined since, even while social cohesion —engagement with things like social clubs, nonprofits, mutual aid groups and other grassroots organizations — deepened. The intrigue: Collins says the drop in voter participation is likely the result of a broken feedback loop. Put simply, people do things when they get rewarded, and they stop doing them if they don't. It becomes easy to think, "I voted [but] my house still floods when we have a minor hurricane, and I still get overcharged by Sewerage and Water, and my electricity still goes out sometimes on a summer afternoon even when there's no weather, and I still can't get the services I need with garbage pickup," he says.
New York Times
6 days ago
- New York Times
A Salmon Dish That's Simple Perfection
Today we have for you: A simple Japanese salmon dish A no-recipe recipe for blistered eggplant with goat cheese Plus, Yotam Ottolenghi's five-star blueberry, lemon and almond cake Good morning. You can love your life and still fantasize about another. I'm lounging under Northeastern black walnut trees in the manner of a king, eating corn and clams and tomatoes and scup, the sky pink and blue, everything perfect in the slightest breeze. Still, my imagination soars: I could be in the middle of an endless Alaska day of netting salmon and picking cloudberries, and wouldn't that be nice? It sent me to the market, to the glistening slabs of king salmon over ice, a summertime splurge for a New Yorker with wanderlust. What I want to cook: chan chan yaki (above), a miso-butter salmon of rare distinction, Japanese in flavor and execution, exactly what I'd make if I were camping in Homer, down on the Spit. 'Chan chan' is onomatopoeiac: the sound of two metal spatulas chopping and mixing vegetables and fish on a griddle. But Marc Matsumoto's recipe, adapted by our Mia Leimkuhler, requires no such gymnastics: You chop cabbage, onions and carrots in advance of the cooking, sauté them in a skillet, and then put the salmon, daubed with miso butter, on top of them to steam until it has just cooked through. It's simple perfection, excellent with rice cut through with crumbled, dried seaweed and an ice-cold beer. Won't you join me this weekend in making that, wherever you stay? Featured Recipe View Recipe → Other things I'd like to cook in the next couple of days: the navy bean soup that's been on the menu at the United States Senate Dining Room for more than 100 years; this blueberry, almond and lemon cake; some vegan mapo tofu. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
