News Release > Stronger, More Resilient Energy Grid Coming to Jefferson and Plaquemines Parishes

Stronger, More Resilient Energy Grid Coming to Jefferson and Plaquemines Parishes

11/18/2019

Entergy Louisiana’s $100 million reliability project underway on the West Bank of Jefferson Parish and Plaquemines Parish will strengthen the delivery of reliable energy to existing and future customers in the area.

The project, expected to be finished in mid-2020, includes the construction of a new substation, improvements to several existing substations, addition of a new transmission line, and upgrades to several existing transmission lines.

The new Churchill substation will be constructed between Westwego and Avondale and will serve as a new junction point for several existing and new 230kV lines. Two existing substations, Alliance and Barataria, are undergoing major expansions to support planned and future 230kV lines to accommodate future growth in the area. Storm-hardening measures at these three flood-prone locations will include constructing a raised site for Churchill and installing additional perimeter flood barriers and elevating critical equipment at Alliance and Barataria.  At another existing substation, Westwego, improvements will include adding capacity to accommodate additional load growth.  Several other substations, Ninemile, Estelle, and Waterford, will undergo relaying upgrades to accommodate tying in Churchill to the electrical grid.

When completed, these facilities will provide a 230kV transmission loop in Jefferson and Plaquemines Parishes for additional capacity and redundancy, a new 115kV source for customers in the Westwego area, and greater overall operational flexibility when outages occur, or critical maintenance is necessary.

  “Entergy Louisiana is investing in new infrastructure to meet the region’s growing demand and ensure that everyone has access to reliable energy,” said Phillip May, president and CEO of Entergy Louisiana. “This project not only enhances the availability of affordable power for our customers in Jefferson and Plaquemines parishes, but it will form a foundation for future reliability and storm resiliency projects across southeast Louisiana.”

Projects like the Jefferson Parish Reliability Improvements Project support the economic growth of the surrounding communities. Several hundred workers will be part of the construction over the course of the project. Entergy Louisiana plans to invest more than $4 billion through 2021 to modernize and strengthen Louisiana's infrastructure to enhance reliability and meet the growing needs of the state’s residents and businesses for years to come.

Entergy Louisiana, LLC provides electric service to more than 1 million customers and natural gas service to nearly 93,000 customers in the greater Baton Rouge area. With operations in southern, central and northern Louisiana, the company is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation.