Introducing, defining, and explaining both the processes and histories behind Integrated Resource Plans in Louisiana. ​
By Daniel Lovett, AAE Economic Analyst Intern

New Orleans, LA - July 16, 2019 - On the heels of what many expected to be an historic weather event in the City of New Orleans, a coalition of local and national groups and businesses submitted a sweeping proposal aimed at transforming the current energy system in the city to 100% renewable energy by 2040.  Hurricane Barry served as a reminder that resilience is intertwined with the fate of New Orleans, and that renewable energy as well as equity are the keys to its long term survival. This innovative proposal represents not only a first for New Orleans, but also for the Gulf South, and was developed through community input to ensure equity, reduced cost of electric bills, and lasting environmental benefits. The Coalition filed their proposal with the Clerk of Council on Monday, July 15th as a part of a formal City Council proceeding. ​

By Emma King, AAE Research Analyst Intern

New Orleans is a city in which residents and businesses are plagued with frequent power outages. These outages are more than an inconvenience and affect people in a myriad of ways. This report provides a detailed understanding of how these outages hinder the New Orleans community by splitting the topic into four parts. The first discusses the problem of outages by calculating the cost to energy consumers and comparing outage data from Entergy New Orleans, the city’s utility provider, to previously-conducted studies as well as the national average and averages from other Louisiana utilities. The second part examines the diverse implications of outages in New Orleans that may not be included in the calculated monetary cost because of the broad and encompassing effects of outages. The third section provides solutions to outages that can be undertaken by individuals, businesses, and cities as a whole. The fourth section places these solutions into the context of current efforts to reduce outages and improve energy efficiency in New Orleans and suggests how we move forward from here.

Author Robert Walton @TeamWetDog

Dive Brief:

• Green Mountain Power (GMP) said its residential battery storage program, rolled out last year in Vermont, saved $500,000 by reducing peak demand during the July heat wave.
• When temperatures spiked on July 5, GMP called on about 500 of Tesla Powerwall batteries to send power to the grid.
• GMP partnered with Tesla last year to offer the Powerwall 2 batteries to 2,000 customers, which could potentially help reduce peak load by 10 MW. The utility will continue to roll out the remaining 1,500 batteries in its program.

January 13th, 2019 by Steve Hanley ​
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S&P Global reports the cost of solar with battery backup dropped precipitously in 2018. In a few cases in the sunny Southwest region of the United States, several tenders for solar plus storage came in at under $30 per megawatt-hour last year. Stand alone prices for installed battery storage — based on a 20 megawatt-hour system with 4 hours of storage — dropped 40% from the previous year to $357 per kilowatt-hour and are expected to keep falling. Bloomberg New Energy Finance projects a further 52% reduction by 2030.

Who’s liable for the costs when a regulated utility is responsible for a disaster?
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To be honest, we’re really not sure, but all eyes are on California to see how they hash this out.

The results from the Independent Investigation into Entergy’s Paid Actor Scandal hit the presses late last night. Here’s all the info you need.

This past January 2018, Louisiana and the rest of the MISO South region experienced a Maximum Generation (MaxGen) event during a cold snap where temperatures dropped to the teens in South Louisiana. ​

On Last Week Tonight, John Oliver explains how dangerous astroturfing is, citing Entergy New Orleans' paid actors (11:07) scandal.
"Organizations can hire fake advocates who create the illusion of real support for their message. It’s a shady practice called astroturfing that can warp the public perception of anything...even astroturfing."

By Tim Morris, Columnist; tmorris@nola.com,
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

City Council members have called Entergy New Orleans' use of paid actors to pack meetings in support of the utility's planned $210 million power plant "morally reprehensible" and "a perversion of our public process."