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Axios
5 days ago
- Business
- Axios
Entergy, grid operator promise earlier warnings after Memorial Day weekend outages
New Orleanians could get earlier warnings before the next rolling blackout, according to Entergy and the regional grid operator — a change prompted by the widespread 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
Axios
27-01-2025
- Climate
- Axios
After snow slowdown, New Orleans makes a mad dash to Super Bowl and Mardi Gras
After a terror attack and a once-in-a-lifetime snow, New Orleans is in a mad dash to finish preparations to host the Super Bowl, with NFL events beginning in just a week. The intrigue: Oh, and Chewbacchus, our first major parade this Carnival season, rolls on Saturday. Fun fact: This year's Carnival, which began Jan. 6 and runs until Mardi Gras on March 4, lasts nearly 60 days. That's so much more time to celebrate than last year's roughly six-week-long season. Yes, but: The number of working hours got cut short because of the snow, and it was already especially nutty with the Super Bowl smack in the middle of all of the madness. This year's parade schedule shifts slightly because city officials didn't want the NOPD to split focus between patrolling parade routes and Super Bowl crowds. Zoom in: City leaders held Super Bowl prep briefings last week as the NFL continued loading gear into the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and the Caesars Superdome, officials said. "There's probably going to be some pretty furious work as far as 24-hour days trying to get some things done because we want to make sure that we have our best foot forward for Super Bowl," NOLA Ready director Collin Arnold said last week. "But while this [snow] has been a distraction, I don't think it's anything that's been limiting at this point." Security-focused meetings will pick up this week, too, Arnold said. "'Snowmageddon' should only cause us to lose a couple of days," Super Bowl czar and GNO Inc. CEO Michael Hecht tells Axios New Orleans. "We are confident we can make these up in the coming days, assuming Mother Nature cooperates." State of play: As for Mardi Gras, this year's revelry will have a few new rules on the route after City Council officials edited Carnival laws during the offseason. We also expect to see new security measures in place because of the New Year's Day terror attack. Meanwhile, notably absent will be the Krewe of Nyx, which got the axe from the city's official Mardi Gras calendar last summer. (Go deeper) The Krewe of Alla will now parade in Nyx's place on the Wednesday before Mardi Gras. Here's a quick look at some of the new rules for 2025: Banned: Tents, tarps, sofas, scaffolding, charcoal barbecue pits, portable toilets of any kind, ladders that have been strapped together. Confetti cannons are out, and so are beads with any non-krewe-related symbols. Krewe members can't throw toilet paper anymore. (Tucks is exempt from this one.) School and nonprofit bands must have at least 30 participants. Go deeper for more rules impacting krewes. What's next: Les Fous du Carnaval rolls Friday at 8pm in the French Quarter. (Route) Chewbacchus rolls Saturday at 7pm in the Marigny. (Route) Go deeper NOPD hires former New York police commissioner as a terrorism expert. New Orleans strengthens counterterrorism efforts for Mardi Gras and Super Bowl LIX. New Orleans Super Bowl prep is down to punch list items. Mardi Gras 2025 parade schedule.
Al Jazeera
01-01-2025
- Al Jazeera
Live: At least 10 dead in US as vehicle crashes into crowd in New Orleans
At least 10 people have been killed and 30 injured when a vehicle ploughed into a crowd in a popular tourist district in the US city of New Orleans in Louisiana, city authorities said. NOLA Ready, the New Orleans emergency preparedness programme, said in a statement that the vehicle drove into the crowd on Canal and Bourbon Street.
