Entergy Louisiana Begins Grid Resilience Upgrades in St. Bernard Parish
Entergy Louisiana has begun work on a grid resilience project in St. Bernard Parish as part of its broader effort to strengthen electric infrastructure across the state.
The project is included in the utility's statewide Resilience Plan, a 10-year initiative focused on improving the electric system's ability to withstand severe weather, reduce outages and lower future storm restoration costs.
According to Entergy Louisiana, the approximately $13.5 million project will upgrade hundreds of power lines in St. Bernard Parish. Planned work includes replacing or reinforcing about 640 distribution and transmission poles with structures designed to withstand wind speeds of up to 150 mph.
Utility officials said the upgrades are intended to improve system reliability and support faster power restoration following hurricanes and other extreme weather events.
The St. Bernard Parish project is one component of Entergy Louisiana's broader resilience strategy, which includes approximately $2 billion in planned investments statewide. Through the program, the utility plans to upgrade about 3,240 miles of power lines and 62,000 utility structures.
Entergy Louisiana said the St. Bernard Parish improvements are expected to support local industries, including port operations, manufacturing, petrochemical facilities and seafood processing operations, by reducing the risk of storm-related service disruptions.
The utility estimates the project could help avoid approximately $24 million in future storm restoration costs and provide an estimated $117.5 million in long-term capital maintenance and investment benefits over the next 50 years.
Construction is expected to continue over the coming months as crews complete resilience-related upgrades throughout the parish.