According to the National Weather Service, Louisiana has experienced drought conditions and nine consecutive days of triple-digit temperatures. But this has not stopped the barehand crews who have been hard at work on the company’s transmission system.

To allow lineworkers to perform energized work, these highly-skilled crews use special equipment like elevated bucket trucks that extend hundreds of feet and come equipped with robotic arms, conductive tethers to simulate a bird landing on a wire and a variety of insulated tools.��

Throughout Louisiana, Entergy has over 5,000 miles of transmission lines, and transmission facilities with equipment operating at 69,000 to 500,000 volts. The ability to work on transmission lines while energized, allows the system to remain in a normal state. With elevated summer temperatures, this work method provides redundancy and adequate capacity to move power across the electrical system.�� ��

“Wesley Brown and Frank Morse have been champions in the success of this initiative,” said Steven Benyard, Entergy vice president of reliability in Louisiana. “Their ability to organize specialized crews to replace wooden poles, repair damaged conductors, insulators and shield wire, with zero impacts to our customers, has been instrumental to keeping homes and businesses powered during extreme heat.”

In 2019, Entergy Louisiana and Quanta, a contractor, worked together to establish a baseload energized transmission line crew to execute an asset renewal program in our industrial corridors across Louisiana and large capital projects that consist of complete rebuilds of transmission lines to add capacity to our system. The focus of this collaboration was to have these work methods and capabilities on our system everyday modernizing the system and being available to respond to emergent work.��

Since the start of this initiative, Entergy implemented a full-time energized crew that safely completed the following work objectives on our transmission system:

• Increased the reliability on over 100 planned and emergent transmission projects in Louisiana.
• Replaced approximately 400 structures and more than 2,300 insulators.
• Improved customer satisfaction by reducing unplanned outage events by 35% in the Lake Charles industrial corridor.
• Supported other Entergy departments such as capital projects, power generation and the nuclear organization.

“Our team continues to find ways to mitigate the potential for a service interruption by performing hot work where it’s safe to do so,” said Daniel Calamari, director of transmission reliability in Louisiana. “The goal is to leverage the expertise and capabilities of each department across the state to efficiently perform work while continuously providing safe and reliable power throughout the communities we serve.”

For more information on Entergy Louisiana’s reliability plans, visit entergy.com/future.

LAKE CHARLES, La. – Entergy Louisiana recently began construction of an approximately $100 million transmission project that aims to build resilience and increase the reliability of its electric grid in southwest Louisiana. The project will also increase capacity to help attract new economic development projects in southwest Louisiana and benefit existing residential, commercial and industrial customers.

The Mud Lake to Big Lake transmission project spans from an existing substation west of Mud Lake near the Calcasieu and Cameron parish line to a new substation being built near Tank Farm and Big Lake roads in Lake Charles.

The project will take place in phases and is scheduled for completion next summer. Major components of the project include:

• Construction of nearly 15 miles of (230kV and 69kV) transmission lines
• Construction of a new substation, Big Lake substation
• Upgrades at three existing substations, including Mud Lake substation
• Installation of approximately 150 poles or structures

Depending on location and accessibility, portions of the new transmission line will be built to withstand winds up to 140 and 150 mph, with a crossing at Calcasieu River and Intracoastal Waterway being built to withstand winds of up to 175 mph.

“The Mud Lake to Big Lake transmission project is another example of Entergy Louisiana taking steps to build not only a more resilient power grid, but also more resilient communities,” said Phillip May, Entergy Louisiana president and CEO. “Southwest Louisiana is continuing to come back stronger and we’re proud to be an active participant in helping the area do just that by installing robust infrastructure that supports existing customers and increases electrical capacity that creates room for growth.”

Other recent transmission projects that added resilience to the electric grid and fared well during severe weather include the and .

Aside from projects that add resilience to the electric grid, Entergy Louisiana also performs reliability work throughout the year. This includes trimming trees, inspecting and upgrading equipment and installing smart devices that help reduce the number of customers affected by an outage and how long the outage lasts. For more information on our reliability efforts, visit our Newsroom.

About Entergy Louisiana

Entergy Louisiana, LLC provides electric service to more than 1 million customers in 58 parishes and natural gas service to more than 94,000 customers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Entergy Louisiana is a subsidiary of ���ϳԹ���, an integrated energy company engaged in electric power production, transmission and retail distribution operations. Entergy delivers electricity to 3 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy owns and operates one of the cleanest large-scale U.S. power generating fleets with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including 7,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, Entergy has annual revenues of $10 billion and approximately 12,500 employees.

JACKSON, Mississippi – Entergy Mississippi will soon begin construction on a $14-million project aimed at improving reliability and modernizing transmission and substation infrastructure that serves customers in southwest Mississippi. Crews will be working to expand the Franklin 500 kV Substation which will reside on existing land owned by the company in Franklin County, Mississippi.

To better serve customers, Entergy Mississippi will install new electric facilities and upgrade other protective equipment in the Franklin 500 kV Substation located in Franklin County, Mississippi. Entergy Louisiana will also perform upgrades in the McKnight 500 kV Substation located in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. These upgrades to the Bulk Electric System will benefit electrical customers in southwest Mississippi and Louisiana by improving transmission grid reliability and modernizing protective systems enhancing the transmission facilities which enable the flow of bulk power into and throughout the region.

Construction is expected to be complete by December 2022.

About Entergy Mississippi

Entergy Mississippi, Inc. provides electricity to approximately 456,000 customers in 45 counties. Entergy Mississippi is a subsidiary of¬†���ϳԹ���,¬†an integrated energy company engaged in electric power production, transmission and retail distribution operations. Entergy delivers electricity to 3 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy owns and operates one of the cleanest large-scale U.S. power generating fleets with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including¬†7,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, Entergy has annual revenues of $10 billion and approximately 12,500 employees.‚ÄØLearn more at‚ÄØentergy.com‚ÄØand follow‚ÄØ@Entergy‚ÄØon social media.

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Laura left an unprecedented path of destruction, causing more than 900,000 Entergy customers to lose power. Some of them remained in the dark for as long as 35 days, as a workforce of at least 26,000 men and women from 31 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada rebuilt the electric system that Mother Nature had torn apart.

The storm came fast on the heels of another hurricane in the Gulf, Marco, making it difficult for planners and forecasters to predict Laura’s exact track and intensity.

“Early the morning of August 27, I woke up to the news that Hurricane Laura had slammed into our service territory, and I immediately knew we would be facing a technical trial and a physical marathon to get everyone’s power back on,” said Jim Schott, vice president of transmission for Entergy.

HISTORICAL PROPORTIONS

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted in May that the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, which officially runs June 1 through November 30, was going to be an especially active and tumultuous one. NOAA predicted that there would be 13-19 named storms (12 is average) and 6-10 hurricanes. As EP goes to press, there have been 30 named storms, 11 of which struck the U.S. mainland this season, eclipsing the nine storms that hit in 1916.

PREPARING FOR LAURA

Encountering favorable conditions for tropical development between Cuba and Louisiana, Laura quickly gained strength. Our emergency planners, employees, and customers knew days in advance we were facing a serious threat. With every mile Laura traveled across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the forecast became more ominous. Entergy’s well-rehearsed storm plan calls for placing workers, equipment, and materials close enough to the expected destruction to respond quickly, but far enough away to avoid damage themselves while they safely ride out the storm. As outside help from mutual assistance partners and contractors was staging, the nearly 3,000 Entergy employees in the path of the storm implemented their personal emergency plans and prepared to respond once the storm cleared and it was safe to do so.

More than 1,400 transmission structures were destroyed by Hurricane Laura, requiring a complete rebuild of the energy grid in the worst-hit areas.

WORSE THAN EXPECTED

We were prepared for a major event, but this storm exceeded all expectations. Laura made landfall at Cameron, Louisiana, as a high-end Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour. By the time the storm subsided, nearly 14,000 of our distribution poles and more than 1,400 transmission structures would be destroyed. Four Entergy power plants also were damaged and in need of repairs.

The region of southwest Louisiana in and around Lake Charles took the brunt of the storm’s force, while southeast Texas, served by Entergy Texas, sustained extensive damage that caused 109,000 customer outages. Because of the storm’s historic intensity, it continued through northern Louisiana and stubbornly held on as a tropical storm deep into Arkansas. As a result, a day after Laura made landfall, nearly 48,000 Entergy Arkansas customers also lost power. Tropical storm-related power outages in Arkansas are rare, to say the least, but Laura’s sustained intensity caused a peak of nearly one million customer outages for the electric companies, public power utilities, and electric cooperatives in her path throughout Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.

“In southwest Louisiana, more than 20 percent of the existing transmission line structures had been destroyed and, ultimately, would be replaced.”

REBUILDING THE TRANSMISSION SYSTEM WHILE BALANCING SUPPLY AND DEMAND

While replacing 14,000 distribution poles and 30,000 spans of wire is no small chore, the most urgent task was securing the electric transmission system that serves southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana. This area includes a uniquely dense population of large industrial customers and critical energy infrastructure.

The storm took out seven of nine transmission ties into Texas. Southwest Louisiana was isolated completely from the system, with all nine transmission lines into that region severed. In total, about 300 substations had been knocked out of service, with more than 1,400 transmission structures destroyed and another 450 damaged. In southwest Louisiana, more than 20 percent of the existing transmission line structures had been destroyed and, ultimately, would be replaced.

“This is not a restoration,” said Entergy Louisiana President and CEO Phillip May at the time. “It’s almost a complete rebuild of our transmission and distribution system that serves Calcasieu and Cameron parishes.”

In the clearest sign yet of how badly the transmission system was damaged, the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), Entergy’s reliability coordinator, directed us to shed load in portions of Texas that were not affected by the storm. Laura was still wending her way through Louisiana when MISO directed the periodic outages.

“Shedding load protects the stability of the bulk electric system and helps prevent further outages,” Schott explained. “By the time the hurricane had passed through the region, we understood there was historic damage to our system, as well as our neighbors’ systems. We knew it would require an extended time to rebuild, leaving the region’s grid highly insecure while those repairs were made. The planning and operations effort would need to sequence the start-up of isolated areas, and mobilize engineering, project management, construction, supply, and logistics services to safely execute a massive rebuild plan.”

Imagine facing this: one unstable region in southeast Texas and one isolated region in southwest Louisiana, both requiring active planning, operations coordination, and risk management with MISO, other electric companies, and customers while also managing load-shed planning and black-start coordination issues. Both regions required complex sequencing of generation and regional load, with the added complexity of large industrial loads and their associated large-motor start requirements, advanced power quality needs, and reliability requirements.

While power was restored to all Texas customers within seven days, it would take 13 days, until Sept. 9, for the first lights in southwest Louisiana to come on. That was the day the first transmission tie into the region from Cleco and the Eastern Interconnection was established.

Cleco also had been devastated by Laura, and a single tie was insufficient to serve the entire region. This first tie, coupled with a path to the Calcasieu generating plant, allowed for Entergy to start that generator and begin bringing on customers.

Hurricane Laura took out seven of nine transmission ties into Texas, while all nine transmission lines into southwest Louisiana were severed.

A LONG HISTORY OF RESPONDING TO HISTORIC STORMS

Damage caused by Laura presented challenges Entergy had not seen before—and we have seen a lot. Entergy is the only electric company in the nation to receive an EEI Emergency Response Award every year offered, receiving more than 30 awards since 1998 for our restoration and mutual assistance work. “Mutual assistance from our industry partners, who provided both labor and material, was critical. Once again, the performance of our industry coming together proved the remarkable capability, resiliency, and character of this industry,” Schott said.

Given the severity and scale of the damage, Entergy modified its restoration organizational structure to resemble a large-scale capital project effort. This was needed to align resources effectively and to streamline stakeholder engagement. For example, logistics and material management teams established 14 temporary laydown yards focused on voltage level and material movement to the field, minimizing delivery times.

While mission success rightly can be attributed to good planning and hard work, it’s also important to have the right tools for the job. In swampy southwest Louisiana, we deployed K-MAX helicopters to quickly move mangled structures out of the way and new ones into place. Crews also utilized tracked marsh buggies, barge-mounted cranes, and air boats to access some of the hard-to-reach areas. In other parts of our service territory where damage was less severe, progress was swift.

With the help of the vast army of mutual assistance workers from around the country, we restored service to 80 percent of those who had lost power by end of week one, 86 percent after two weeks, 94 percent after three, and by the end of week four, 99 percent of customers were back online. We announced on September 30—35 days after landfall of Hurricane Laura—that all customers who could receive power had been restored. “I could not be more proud of our team’s response to this natural disaster,” said Willie Wilson, vice president of power plant operations for Entergy, who served as incident commander for Hurricane Laura recovery. “The employees, the contractors, the mutual assistance workers from other utility companies—they all worked in concert and with tremendous heart to take care of the people whose lives were upended by this historic storm.”

Entergy deployed K-MAX helicopters to quickly move mangled structures out of the way and new ones into place.

RESTORING POWER IN A PANDEMIC

In addition to facing more damage than we had ever experienced, including from hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, Entergy was responding to Laura in the middle of a global pandemic. Wisely, the industry had addressed the matter at the national level prior to storm season with a set of safety protocols developed by the CEO-led Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC), and Entergy had established a dual-threat process to prepare.

Crews came with their own pandemic personal protective equipment (PPE) and maintained their own supplies of PPE to offset potential scarcity. Planners managed work to keep crews together in pods to minimize potential exposure and allow for contact tracing. All restoration partners implemented personnel screening to track and monitor cases and to mitigate spread. Large-scale workspace gatherings related to safety onboarding, equipment staging, and dining were replaced with smaller and safer alternatives. Staging centers were cut to half capacity. Entergy engaged third-party health and safety groups to assist with COVID-19 coaching at the staging, lodging, and work sites.

Housing and feeding the crews were special challenges. Although restoration workers normally sleep in hotels in the communities they are working to restore, the damage caused by Laura rendered most hotels uninhabitable. With beds in short supply, restoration workers slept in bunk trailers, tents, and even two floating hotels. Where normally we would depend on local caterers and restaurants to feed workers in group settings, Hurricane Laura required the mobilization of major catering vendors from across the region to serve as many as 45,000 to-go meals each day for several weeks.

Crews worked tirelessly to restore power for impacted customers and communities.

A THIRST FOR INFORMATION

Lineworkers and vegetation crews cleared debris and began replacing components of the energy grid, while company representatives were busy communicating with customers, assuring them that a monumental effort had been launched on their behalf, and also setting expectations that it could be weeks before all who could accept power would be re-energized.

Affected customers were, understandably, hungry for information. We told the restoration story through multiple channels, including:

• 801 proactive social media posts, with a reach of more than 20 million;
• 138 posts on Entergy’s online Storm Center, read by 610,000 visitors;
• Entergy’s storm response website dedicated exclusively to Hurricane Laura, which received more than 100,000 visits;
• 20 news releases issued to the news media, supported by dozens of interviews and accommodations for information and updates;
• 2,120 safety-approved still photos and video clips, 40 interviews, and 21 edited videos created by staff and freelance help shared on social media; and��
• 5.9 million direct messages delivered to our customers by phone call, text message, or email.

In addition, we partnered closely with EEI, which shared updates through its vast communications network. We also engaged with the ESCC to ensure unity of effort and unity of message among all segments of the electric power industry and our government partners.

Nearly 3,000 Entergy employees live in the path of Hurricane Laura. Of them, almost 650 reported some level of damage to their homes. As they juggled their own power outages and professional responsibilities, employees were kept up to speed through online internal communications vehicles, including an electronic newsletter, Facebook Workplace, emails, and weekly video messages from Entergy Chairman and CEO Leo Denault.

While all these communications were delivering updates to our residential and commercial customers, Entergy’s industrial account executives were working one-on-one with petroleum refineries, chemical manufacturers, major pipelines, liquefied natural gas exporters, and other large-load customers that make up the enormous industrial complex that spans the Gulf Coast region. These customers were more than receivers of power in this ordeal; they were active partners in the restoration process. We needed them to receive power as it was added to the energy grid. They needed electricity, but many had specific ramp-up and power-quality requirements. Keeping load and generation in balance required constant communication and coordination by electrical experts on both sides.

Crews from Entergy and mutual assistance partners utilized a wide range of specialized equipment, including helicopters and air boats, to restore power for customers after Hurricane Laura.

LOOKING BACK

What means the most to the Entergy team working on the restoration is satisfied customers in the midst of an extended power outage. Support from all parts of the community was overwhelming. Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter said: “I can’t tell you how proud I am of our city employees and Entergy, our electric utility, for moving mountains to make these things happen…. I think the government can take a page out of Entergy’s book sometimes.”

“Hats off to Entergy for their great work bringing power back to Texans affected by Hurricane Laura,” commented Texas State Senator Robert Nichols. “We truly appreciate their hard work and dedication to serving East Texas.”

There were many hundreds of social media posts from customers that sounded much like this one: “Y’all are amazing and may God bless you all!!!! Thank you for your commitment to serving your customers!!”

“At Entergy, ‘We Power Life.’ On a normal day, it’s a catchy tagline. But during and after Hurricane Laura, it was profoundly appropriate,” said Eliecer Viamontes, vice president of utility distribution operations. “It’s humbling and gratifying to be reminded how much our customers depend every minute of every day on the service we provide. Getting things back to normal was a gargantuan task, but you do what it takes to help rebuild the communities we serve. People are depending on us.”

A workforce of at least 26,000 men and women from 31 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada was dedicated to the Hurricane Laura response.

LESSONS LEARNED

Every storm presents opportunities to learn in order to respond better to the next one. Lessons learned from Hurricane Laura included: the need to review and refine black-start processes; an affirmation of the value of having detailed load-shed plans when faced with a catastrophic loss of transmission and generation; and a constant need for faster damage assessment by leveraging technology.

NOT AGAIN

Just when it appeared that hurricane season might be winding down, Hurricane Delta made its way into the Gulf with its eye again squarely on the Louisiana coastline.

Incredibly, the storm made landfall just 13 miles to the east of where Laura came ashore. It would strike Louisiana as a high-end Category 2 storm on October 9, just six weeks after Laura devastated the area. Delta’s wrath knocked out power to more than 850,000 Entergy customers, many of whom still were rebuilding their lives after Laura.

Thankfully, the grid rebuilt just a month prior held up well and complete restoration took less than a week. Most important, all the new transmission structures rebuilt after Laura were undamaged. Also, we installed Class 1 distribution poles in and around Lake Charles after Laura, resulting in only one-tenth the pole damage in Delta. The upgrades and resilience measures brought an unwanted affirmation of the success of our swift planning and execution in the wake of Laura.

And when Hurricane Zeta made landfall on October 28, Entergy and the entire industry responded safely and swiftly once again.��

One improves by learning from what could have gone better. But the most gratifying lessons learned are those that affirm you know what you’re doing. As one Entergy restoration team member stated, “We got this. It’s what we do.” In a year that the entire world, it seems, has been in social, economic, political, and medical pandemonium, nature chose to unleash an extra dose of challenges on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

The most important measure is safety. “We always want folks to go back home in the same good health in which they arrived,” said Viamontes. “We never stop looking for ways to improve our processes, procedures, equipment, and, most important, mindset, to make this dangerous work safer for those who bravely do it.”

Through it all, the Entergy team had a well-practiced plan, worked the plan, and came out stronger and more experienced, if not a bit winded—and more than ready for the arrival of November 30, the official end of hurricane season.

“At Entergy, ‘We Power Life.’ On a normal day, it’s a catchy tagline. But during and after Hurricane Laura, it was profoundly appropriate.” –Eliecer Viamontes, vice president of utility distribution operations

David Lewis is a senior communications specialist at Entergy. This article was originally published in the November/December 2020 issue of�� magazine.

As crews work to restore power in Southwest Louisiana, customers may see new distribution poles but remain without power. While the distribution system was heavily impacted by Hurricane Laura, we also had significant damage to our transmission system. This system consists of lines carrying high-voltage electricity quickly and efficiently over long distances and are often seen along highways, interstates or crossing water. While our distribution structures were damaged as well, transmission structures are larger, harder to transport, and require more crews to construct.

If the grid and the flow of power were compared to our highway system, transmission lines would be the interstates, substations would be the off-ramps and distribution lines would be the streets and roads that lead to homes and businesses.

The transmission system is the backbone of the electric grid and helps Entergy move power from the power plant to the lines serving customers’ neighborhoods. Power must be restored to transmission lines and substations in order to energize the distribution lines that serve businesses and homes. Without these lines in service, it makes it difficult to move power across the system to customers in the affected areas.

The UAS pilot program

In search of innovative solutions for inspections and patrols, Entergy’s transmission group developed a UAS pilot program to test the technology.

“After benchmarking utility peers and input from the , we knew the possible benefits of having engineers and field personnel use UAS as a tool on our system,” said Katie Robertson, transmission engineer and pilot program coordinator and participant. “The goal of the internal pilot program is to develop a standardized process to qualify and train transmission personnel to use this technology on our system in a controlled and safe manner.”

Robertson reached out to Dennis Lott, UAS program director at , located near Jackson, to develop a training program for employees. For the initial training, operation coordinators and engineers were nominated for the program, as these individuals have experience with inspections and responding to storms and outages.

Training

The employees in this program underwent intense training to receive their (FAA) certificates after completing a three day classroom training and sitting for the FAA exam. Prior to using UAS on the transmission system, an internal training requirement is in place for the pilots to perform an additional 20 hours of hands-on training, which is beyond FAA requirements.��

The training showed the engineers and operation coordinators a newer, safer approach to monitor transmission assets.

Dustin Cranford, transmission line supervisor in Arkansas, said, “There’s less exposure to right of way hazards with hazard identification when scoping for future jobs and storm response. We can use these for up close inspections on outages and trip/recloses. I believe as we work with these in the days to come we will find more applications and benefits of the drones.”

Echoing Cranford, Curtis Robertson, vegetation operations coordinator in Mississippi, said another safety benefit of utilizing the UAS technology is to “identify safety concerns related to a tree on the line that would not be visible any other way prior to sending tracked equipment in to remove the tree after the line has been grounded and tested.”

Robertson also suggested the team would be able to “conduct inspections in difficult to access locations due to terrain, which would reduce the potential for tripping hazards, snake and insect exposure, unknown water depths,” and other safety risks.

Next steps

Entergy’s transmission group currently has seven UASs for the operation coordinators and engineers to use across the system. The engineers will have a shared UAS with the ability to change the sensors to meet detailed reliability inspection needs. Participants in the pilot program will also look for opportunities to use their newly acquired skills and tools in their everyday jobs.

Lance Schumacher, a vegetation operations coordinator in Arkansas who is participating in the pilot program, commented on the opportunities for UAS in transmission.��

“The training opens your eyes to the airspace you are sharing and the responsibility that goes with it,” said Schumacher. “I believe we are just scratching the surface on how we will utilize the UAS on the job.”

BATON ROUGE, La. – Entergy Louisiana customers are being served by a stronger, more resilient electric grid following the completion of major transmission projects, including one of the largest in the company’s history.

The Lake Charles Transmission Project represents one of the largest single transmission projects in Entergy Louisiana’s history. It included construction of two new substations, expansion of two others, and adding approximately 25 miles of high-voltage transmission lines – including both 500-kV and 230-kV lines – to move power more efficiently into the fast-growing region.

“A strong, modern electric grid not only improves reliability, it helps create jobs and growth for the entire state. The Lake Charles Transmission Project, one part of a multi-phased resiliency project, is essential to meeting today’s power demands and keep pace with Louisiana’s economic growth,” said Phillip May, president and CEO of Entergy Louisiana. “Our investments will enhance reliability, improve efficiency across the state and expand our load serving capability throughout South West Louisiana.”

Entergy Louisiana is more than half-way through its plans to invest approximately $465 million in transmission expansion and upgrade projects this year to strengthen and enhance the reliability of its energy grid. Upgrades include structures and rebuilt lines that are designed to withstand a category four hurricane.

The Lake Charles project is one of three recent resiliency projects for Entergy Louisiana completed to date in 2018.The Oakville-Alliance transmission project included the rebuilding and expansion of the Oakville substation to construct a 230-kV transmission path between one of Entergy Louisiana’s substations in Jefferson Parish and a substation in Plaquemines Parish.

Also, Entergy Louisiana has completed its portion of the Terrebonne to Bayou Vista transmission project, a collaborative effort between Entergy Louisiana and Cleco Power, LLC, to improve reliability in southeast Louisiana. Entergy Louisiana completed its 24-mile section of the 36-mile line in May, while Cleco is currently working to complete its section. ��

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 ���ϳԹ���.

���ϳԹ��� is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including nearly 9,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.9 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of approximately $11 billion and more than 13,000 employees.

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Twitter:

Entergy’s transmission system includes 15,700 circuit miles of transmission line and 1,500 substations. This infrastructure spreads over mountain ranges, marshes and piney woods. Many of these areas are remote, difficult and time-consuming to access.

Entergy employees use an array of high-tech tools to get the job done. High-powered binoculars, utility task vehicles, marsh buggies, boats, drones and helicopters are just a few of the tools needed to access, inspect and maintain critical infrastructure. And each tool has its pros and cons.

Recently, high-powered cameras have proven a useful way to inspect infrastructure while controlling costs. Pat Hoffpauir, an Entergy operations coordinator in Beaumont, Texas, is using a digital single lens reflex camera with a super-telephoto lens to supplement the corona and infrared cameras already in use. The high-powered lens enables inspectors on the ground to capture shots of equipment at the very top of transmission structures. The camera’s GPS unit helps pinpoint the location of problems.

“Helicopters are very good for looking at lines quickly,” said Hoffpauir. Helicopters pose risks, however, as potential crashes can cause physical injury and property damage.

From the day the first pole was planted to hold an electric line, service reliability has depended on the safe prevention and correction of equipment problems. But considering the size of today’s grid, that task is no small feat.

Drones are also handy. They can capture high-definition video and high-quality still photos. But current drone cameras have limited zooming and exposure adjustment capabilities.��

In some cases, the high-powered camera Hoffpauir is using provides equal or greater visibility and capability, but with lower costs and fewer risks.

The technology is already delivering benefits for Entergy customers. Last April, inspections from the ground and air failed to reveal the cause of an outage in Louisiana. Hoffpauir inspected the line using several cameras. The corona camera picked up unusual activity on the line. By cropping the image from his high-powered camera using the zoom lens, he discovered signs of a recent electrical flash, which had caused the outage.

Hoffpauir, an avid amateur photographer, has already used cameras extensively in both Texas and Louisiana. He now plans to travel to other Entergy operating companies, both to take photographs and help train other employees on the technique.

“By applying a personal skill to help resolve an issue at work, Pat is demonstrating the kind of innovative thinking we encourage from our employees every day,” said Jeff Guy, Entergy transmission lines manager. “Creative solutions and improvements help us provide reliable electrical service to our customers while controlling costs.”

Learn more about the expansion and improvement of Entergy’s transmission system.

Entergy Louisiana: ��
Michael Burns
504-576-4132 ��
mburns@entergy.com ��

Cleco:��
Jennifer Cahill��
318-484-7411
jennifer.cahill@cleco.com

Companies to build new storm-hardened 230 kV transmission line

HOUMA, La. – Construction is underway on a joint effort by Entergy Louisiana and Cleco to construct a new storm-hardened transmission line that will strengthen service reliability for customers across southeast Louisiana.

The 36-mile line will stretch from Gray to Patterson on steel structures designed to withstand winds of up to 150 mph. The final portions of the project are expected to be completed by fall 2018.

“This project is a great example of two utilities working together to benefit customers of both companies,” said Melonie Stewart, Entergy Louisiana’s regional director of customer service. “It’s part of Entergy Louisiana’s commitment to invest in upgrading our power grid to better serve our customers.”

“The partnership will improve power reliability for customers in south Louisiana,” said Terry Whitmore, Cleco’s general manager of transmission strategy.�� “It also will strengthen the transmission infrastructure to minimize the potential for storm damage including hurricanes, and it will improve restoration times.”��

Entergy Louisiana’s portion of the project, which includes building 24 miles of the new 230 kV transmission line and additional related work, will cost approximately $65 million. Cleco expects to spend $48 million to build 12 miles of the line.

Entergy Louisiana is building its portion of the line from its Terrebonne substation near Gray to a point at Bayou Boeuf near Amelia where it will interconnect with Cleco’s line. Cleco will construct its line between the interconnection and its Bayou Vista substation near Patterson.

To protect wetlands, Entergy Louisiana will rely extensively on helicopters and marsh buggies to construct the new line, which parallels an existing transmission line and will include erecting approximately 235 new structures. The steel transmission structures will typically range in height from 80 to 115 feet and will be supported on one-piece steel foundations weighing as much as 20 tons. The largest of Entergy Louisiana’s structures will be approximately 195 feet tall and used in crossing Bayou Boeuf.

“The majority of Cleco’s structures and foundations will be similar in design and size to those in the Entergy line with the exception of six structures between 198 and 239 feet tall which are required for crossing three major waterways – Atchafalaya River, Bayou Shaffer and Bayou Boeuf,” said Dean Sikes, Cleco’s vice president of engineering, construction and project management.�� “While this project will be challenging and require extensive equipment, this transmission line project will improve reliability for this region.”

About Entergy Louisiana:��

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

���ϳԹ��� is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including nearly 9,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.9 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of approximately $10.8 billion and nearly 13,000 employees.

About Cleco:

Cleco is a regional energy company that conducts substantially all of its business operation through its primary subsidiary, Cleco Power. Cleco Power is a regulated electric utility company that owns nine generating units with a total nameplate capacity of 3,310 MWs and serves approximately 288,000 customers in Louisiana through its retail business and supplies wholesale power in Louisiana and Mississippi.

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BATON ROUGE, La. – Entergy officials joined with business and community leaders and elected officials at the Nelson Power Station in Westlake today to “cut the wire” on one of the largest single transmission projects in Entergy’s history.

The wire-cutting ceremony officially launched construction of Entergy Louisiana LLC’s Lake Charles Transmission Project – a $159 million project that will help bring power to one of the fastest growing areas in the nation in terms of private-sector job growth.

“Today is a testament to the hard work and dedication of many people and months of preparation and approvals,” said Phillip May, president and CEO of Entergy Louisiana. “These new transmission lines will help wire this region for the future.”

The project, which is expected to be completed in early 2018, involves building 25 total miles of high-voltage transmission lines and the facilities needed to support them, including two new substations and expansion of two existing substations.

The new lines are being constructed to support and enable economic growth in southwest Louisiana, as well as to enhance reliability for existing and future customers.

“We work to keep the lights on 24/7, and this will help us continue to do that,” May said. “It also will provide us operational flexibility for serving customers to make sure they get the highest quality of service available.”

Once completed, access to lower cost generation will be improved, which could potentially reduce the costs for all customers in the area.

Besides just responding to the industrial expansion the project will provide benefits to existing customers – including residential customers who are moving here for good, high-paying jobs. This not only means more jobs in southwest Louisiana, it means a larger tax base to support community infrastructure, such as schools, parks and roads.

Since 2008, Louisiana Economic Development (LED) has secured projects that are creating more than 91,000 new direct and indirect jobs, as well as more than $62 billion in new capital investment.

Because of this and other industrial growth throughout its service areas, Entergy plans to invest approximately $2 billion in its four states over the next three years in transmission capital projects, including those related to reliability and economic development.

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

���ϳԹ��� is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including nearly 10,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of approximately $11.5 billion and more than 13,000 employees.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

In this news release, and from time to time, Entergy��Louisiana��makes certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements of Entergy’s capital investment plans over the next three years.��Except to the extent required by the federal securities laws, Entergy Louisiana��undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements, including (a) those factors discussed elsewhere in this news release and in Entergy’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, any subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Entergy’s other reports and filings made under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; (b) uncertainties associated with rate proceedings, formula rate plans and other cost recovery mechanisms; (c) uncertainties associated with efforts to remediate the effects of major storms and recover related restoration costs; (d) nuclear plant relicensing, operating and regulatory risks,��including any changes resulting from the nuclear crisis in Japan following its catastrophic earthquake and tsunami; (e) changes in decommissioning trust fund values or earnings or in the timing or cost of decommissioning any of Entergy’s nuclear plant sites; (f) legislative and regulatory actions and risks and uncertainties associated with claims or litigation by or against Entergy and its subsidiaries; (g) risks and uncertainties associated with strategic transactions that Entergy or its subsidiaries may undertake, including the risk that any such transaction may not be completed as and when expected and the risk that the anticipated benefits of the transaction may not be realized and (h) economic conditions and conditions in commodity and capital markets during the periods covered by the forward-looking statements.

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