Entergy Louisiana has completed a major element of a multi-million dollar program to enhance service reliability to Plaquemines Parish customers and meet the needs of a growing economy.
On March 16, Entergy Louisiana put into service a new 10.5-mile-long transmission line between the Oakville substation, off Walker Road in Belle Chasse, and the Alliance substation, west of Louisiana Highway 23 near the Phillips 66 refinery. The new 230-kV transmission line will increase the reliability of service to both residential and industrial customers by providing an additional source to the existing transmission system.
“This project not only enhances the availability of affordable power for our Plaquemines Parish customers but it will form a foundation for future reliability and storm resiliency projects across southeast Louisiana,” said Melonie Stewart, interim vice president of customer service for Louisiana.
The last phase of the project will be to construct roughly seven miles of new 34-kV distribution line on the lower portion of the new steel transmission structures, which are built to withstand winds of up to 150 mph, along Highway 23. All customers currently served by the existing distribution line on older wooden poles along that section of Highway 23 will be served by the new distribution line. Entergy Louisiana expects to complete work on the distribution lines over the next eight to 10 months.
The overall program involved a series of projects to build a 230-kV transmission path between the Peters Road substation in Jefferson Parish and the Alliance substation in Plaquemines Parish. Two of the projects – expanding the Peters Road substation to supply the new 230-kV line, and rebuilding/expanding the Oakville substation and constructing a new 6.5-mile long 230kV transmission line between the Peters Road and Oakville substations – were completed in 2012. This latest project also included improvements to the Alliance and the Oakville substations, which were completed in 2014.
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 northeastern Louisiana, the company is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation.
