Hurricane Ida Exposes Grid Weaknesses as New Orleans Goes Dark

Energy experts said it was too early to say what happened to Entergy’s New Orleans gas plant and transmission lines and draw lessons from the storm. But natural disasters have highlighted the need for improvements, including making grids less prone to large failures.

“Generally speaking, you’re never going to be able to construct a system that can withstand absolutely any natural disaster,” said Larry Gasteiger, executive director of Wires, a trade association that represents utilities that build and operate high-voltage transmission lines. “But it speaks to the need for building out a more resilient system.”

The Biden administration has planned tens of billions of dollars to add more transmission lines to carry more solar and wind power from one region of the country to another. But some energy experts said the increasing frequency of devastating hurricanes, wildfires and other disasters argues against a big investment in power lines and for greater investment in smaller-scale systems like rooftop solar panels and batteries. Because small systems are placed at many homes, businesses, schools and other buildings, some continue to function even when others are damaged, providing much-needed energy during and after disasters.

Susan Guidry, a former member of the New Orleans City Council who voted against the Entergy plant, said she had worried that a storm like Ida could wreak havoc on her city and its energy system. She had wanted the city and utility to consider other options. But she said her fellow Council members and the utility had ignored those warnings.

“They said that they had dealt with that problem,” Ms. Guidry said. “The bottom line is they should have instead been upgrading their transmission and investing in renewable energy.”

Numerous community groups and city leaders opposed the gas-fired power plant, which is just south of Interstate 10 and Lake Pontchartrain, bordering predominantly African American and Vietnamese American neighborhoods. Nevertheless, the City Council approved the plant, which began commercial operations in May 2020. It generates power mainly at times of peak demand.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/30/business/energy-environment/hurricane-ida-entergy-power-outage.html