100K Louisianans Were Left Without Power. Without Transmission Planning, It’ll Keep Happening. 

   

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Why did the power go out for nearly 100,000 Louisianans over Memorial Day weekend?  

An Entergy-operated nuclear power plant unexpectedly went offline, meaning it was not providing power to the grid. This happened while another Entergy nuclear plant was offline for scheduled routine maintenance, and in the midst of other power plant and transmission outages. The weather was likely hotter than models predicted, which resulted in more power demand than was available. So, to prevent wider-spread blackouts or grid failures, MISO ordered Entergy to take a step we call ‘load shed.’ But this incident didn’t happen in isolation—and speaks to why a lack of transmission planning could make this happen more and more frequently. 

Louisiana is a part of a multi-state organization called the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO). This independent organization was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in 2001 for the purpose of coordinating the dispatch of the most affordable power generating resources to meet the demand for electricity across 15 states, and to independently assess the transmission grid for upgrades needed to deliver electricity to consumers more affordably, reliably and efficiently. 

In short, MISO is responsible for planning and coordinating generation and transmission of electricity to ensure the lights stay on across its region, spanning from South Louisiana to Canada. 

MISO is regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), but it is important to understand that regional transmission organizations (RTO) are fundamentally planning and coordination entities. They look to and work with state and local regulators to understand what is needed at a local level, and to ensure future grid reliability and affordability.  

MISO cannot order Louisiana or New Orleans to build transmission lines, but Louisiana and New Orleans regulators can demand that utilities and MISO engage in planning that ensures electricity is distributed across the grid as efficiently, affordably, and reliably as possible – including intervening to prevent major blackouts.   

MISO has begun efforts for long term, regional transmission planning, however planning has not happened in MISO South states largely because regulators can not agree on how to split the bill for transmission costs (also known as cost allocation). Our regulators do have the power to demand transmission planning begin as swiftly as possible in MISO South states (AR, LA, MS, and a small portion of TX).  

In 2012, to alleviate concerns expressed by the Department of Justice regarding anti-competitive transmission planning and power generation dispatch on behalf of Entergy corporation – MISO integrated Entergy’s service territory covering Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. This established the ‘MISO South’ region, a region that has not benefited from long term, holistic regional transmission planning.  

This particular power outage was due to a “load shed event,” which is a last-resort controlled power outage ordered by the Midcontinent System Operator (MISO), the regional grid operator, in order to prevent larger, uncontrolled blackouts. It’s a way to balance supply and demand for our power grid.  

The grid works like a highway system, and similar to highway systems, when demands on the road system exceed the number of lanes, they are accompanied by traffic jams (and in this case, blackouts). Without enough “lanes” for electricity to move from producers to customers, “load pockets” are created – which increase costs for consumers and can make the grid more vulnerable to failures. Sunday’s outage was a demonstration of what can go wrong when there is not enough transmission to handle that “traffic.” 

New Orleans and Louisiana, as well as much of the South, are areas where electricity demand is consistently very high, particularly during hot days when everyone is running their air conditioners (in addition to industrial electricity demand, which is also very high in Louisiana).  

When local demand exceeds local power supply, and there aren’t enough transmission lines to connect with power generation outside of these localized areas, these imbalances can threaten the grid at large – leading to load shedding to prevent larger blackouts or grid failures. 

Regulators can demand transparency from power companies to understand exactly how the load shed happened. Regulators also indicate to RTOs, in this case, MISO that their constituents need transmission planning, so that when a power plant fails we have adequate transmission lines so that we can access low-cost power in other areas of the grid.  

Power companies like Entergy have consistently opposed efforts to connect New Orleans and Louisiana to the larger electric grid, and state and local regulators have often sided with those companies over what’s best for their constituents. Until regulators engage in regional transmission planning and order these utilities to fully connect to systems like MISO, Louisiana and New Orleans ratepayers will be vulnerable to failures like we saw on over memorial day weekend.  

It is important to understand: while MISO can order load shedding to take place to protect the grid, MISO does not decide where load shedding happens. That is a decision made by the local utilities. 

We currently do not know how power companies determine which areas experience an outage. Our regulators can demand that power companies share how these decisions are made.  

The New Orleans City Council regulates New Orleans’ main utility company, and the Louisiana Public Service Commission regulates utility companies in the rest of the state. Here are several key next steps they should take: 

• Demand transparency. The City Council and LPSC should demand that Entergy and Cleco share all available information to understand how this event happened. Work with other regulators in MISO south to determine a suitable cost allocation agreement for regionally planned transmission infrastructure. Allowing a pathway forward for regional transmission planning. 

• Demand clear, proactive communication. Require power companies communicate not only to those impacted by power outages, but to all consumers so that where possible consumers can reduce their demand on the grid so as to avoid larger outages.   

• Require robust Energy Efficiency programs. Part of the problem we face in Louisiana is that our homes and businesses “need” more energy than we use, in large part because of a lack of investment in making buildings more energy efficient. Currently, individuals can seek out energy efficiency upgrades–whether by replacing appliances or making improvements to buildings that prevent energy waste–but there is no statewide program to ensure everyone is getting the benefits they are entitled to as ratepayers. Unfortunately, the Louisiana Public Service Commission just voted to cancel contracts to establish a permanent energy efficiency program, which would have saved people money and improved the reliability of our grid. 

• Demand swift regional transmission planning. It is the responsibility of our regulators to demand regional transmission planning. Expanding transmission capacity takes time, and we can not wait any longer for transmission planning to begin. The longer we wait to begin transmission planning, the longer consumers remain vulnerable to load shed events like we experienced on May 25^th.  

There are a number of steps that Louisiana and New Orleans as a whole must take: 

• Expand transmission capacity between MISO South and MISO North, so that electricity produced anywhere can be delivered quickly and efficiently to the communities that need it most, while also alleviating “load pockets.” This will result in more highway lanes to move more power when it is needed.  

• Begin long-term regional planning in MISO South states. Corporations like Entergy have long fought efforts to do this–because it could negatively affect their bottom line by forcing them to compete with other electricity producers—and the LPSC and New Orleans City Council have allowed  these practices to continue for decades . It’s time we put the people of Louisiana and New Orleans first—increasing transmission means we will be better protected from grid failures, and will also help to bring down costs. 

• Expand and invest in locally available renewable energy and battery storage systems. Making these investments would make locally generated power available if and when something goes wrong, whether because of bad weather or unexpected generator failures. 

• Hold our locally elected regulators accountable. Louisiana and New Orleans both elect their regulators – each Louisiana resident is represented by a member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, and New Orleans City Council members regulate Entergy New Orleans. Utility regulation can feel complicated – but we are all meant to have a say in how our system works. 

• Demand more information about how this emergency was caused. Reportedly, the order from MISO for load shedding was provided on extremely short notice to Entergy, which led to much of the confusion we see today. Regulators should have MISO explain why conditions deteriorated so quickly. 

Join us at the Alliance to learn more about how to get involved. Our partners at UCS have also put together a handy primer and guide for changing your power grid. We will provide updates on our website as we learn more. 

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