Entergy Texas seeks state approval of resiliency plan

Entergy Texas Inc., which provides electricity to some 512,000 customers in 27 counties across the state, yesterday said it has asked state regulators to approve the first phase of its resiliency plan to minimize outages, reduce restoration costs, and improve recovery times for extreme weather events.

“While Entergy Texas has historically invested in the reliability and resiliency of its generation, transmission, and distribution systems, significant and emerging circumstances support the need to accelerate the pace of these investments,” said Eliecer Viamontes, president and CEO of Entergy Texas. “Our comprehensive Resiliency Plan creates stronger communities while managing customer bill impacts.”

Entergy Texas on June 21 filed an application with the Public Utility Commission of Texas for approval of Phase I of its comprehensive Texas Future Ready Resiliency Plan.

Once approved, the investments included in Phase I are expected to benefit customers by decreasing future storm restoration costs by roughly $129 million and reducing the duration of power outages following significant weather events by 4.5 billion minutes over the next 50 years, according to a company statement released on July 1.

“The time is ripe for undertaking the accelerated investments to enhance resiliency included in the Resiliency Plan,” the application says. “Fundamentally, spending on hardening involves a balance between risk and cost, with the two being inversely proportional.”

The increasing harm resulting from prolonged outages, the increasing frequency and cost of storm restoration, and the declining cost of new technologies that promote resiliency demonstrate that now is an appropriate time to pursue accelerated infrastructure hardening and targeted vegetation management to address the risks of resiliency events, including wildfires, according to the application.

“The increasing frequency and cost of storm restoration, the increasing impact from prolonged outages, and recently passed state legislation demonstrate that now is the optimal time to pursue key grid hardening investments,” reiterated Viamontes.

Specifically, Phase I of Entergy Texas’ resiliency plan is a multiyear proposal that includes six key measures to prevent, withstand, and recover from damage imposed by significant storm events.

For instance, the plan includes distribution feeder hardening and lateral hardening, which would be done by rebuilding main feeder lines and neighborhood distribution lines so that they are storm-resilient. These hardening projects included in Phase I total a $335 million investment in the southeast Texas power grid.

Likewise, Entergy Texas plans to replace poles with higher wind-rated structures and equipment on high-voltage lines, underground select overhead neighborhood lines, and harden substations by upgrading roofs to meet wind standards.

Targeted vegetation management included in the plan calls for proactive inspections and trimming to mitigate vegetation-related outages and wildfire risks.

To help finance these projects, Entergy Texas plans to seek $198 million in non-ERCOT grants from the Texas Energy Fund and has applied for funding under the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Innovation and Resilience Partnerships program.

If approved, the federal dollars would be used to invest more than $107 million to strengthen the Port Arthur grid, a portion of which would offset the cost of hardening projects included in Phase I, according to Entergy Texas.

“The City of Port Arthur holds dear the commitment by Entergy Texas in our joint partnership to harden the southeast Texas power grid and build a more resilient energy future for our community,” said Mayor Thurman Bartie.

Entergy Texas’ Resiliency Plan is part of the company’s Southeast Texas Energy Plan, also known as the STEP Ahead plan. This plan aims to add 1,600 megawatts of generation capacity to the southeast Texas power grid by 2028.

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