Downed power lines slump over a road in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, Friday, Sept. 3, 2021, in Reserve, La. Weather disasters fueled by climate change now roll across the U.S. year-round, battering the nation's aging electric grid. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
Twenty-four solar panels, undamaged by Hurricane Ida, plus batteries provided Devin De Wulf with enough energy to keep his appliances running and to charge devices and other necessities for his Bywater neighbors amid the storm's extended power outage. The panels are seen Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021.
A police vehicle travels on Interstate 10 in New Orleans on Aug. 30, 2021, the morning after Hurricane Ida caused power failures across the region.
Crews repairing downed power lines in The Garden District of New Orleans Louisiana, after Hurricane Ida.
Entergy has finished replacing the transmission line that crosses the Mississippi River to bring power to metro New Orleans. The line, which was knocked down nearly a year ago by Hurricane Ida, required building massive towers in Harahan and Avondale. (Handout photo by Entergy)
An electrical tower that held transmission lines over the Mississippi River before Hurricane Ida is seen in Harahan on Thursday, December 23, 2021. The transmission lines fell into the river when a tower along the Mississippi River in Avondale that supplies power to New Orleans and the east bank of Jefferson Parish collapsed during the hurricane.(Photo by Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
Downed power lines slump over a road in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, Friday, Sept. 3, 2021, in Reserve, La. Weather disasters fueled by climate change now roll across the U.S. year-round, battering the nation's aging electric grid. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
Crews repairing downed power lines in The Garden District of New Orleans Louisiana, after Hurricane Ida.
Climate change is at the root of an increasing number of blackouts affecting large areas of the country over the past decade, with Louisiana near the top of the list, according to a new report.
An analysis published Wednesday by the research nonprofit Climate Central ranks Louisiana sixth among U.S. states with the most power outages caused by hurricanes and other severe weather.
“Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of the extreme weather that wreaks havoc on our power grid - from wildfire to heat waves and hurricanes,” the report said.
Between 2000 and 2021, more than 80% of all reported power outages were attributed to a weather-related event. The number of blackouts spiked over the past decade, with about 64% more outages than occurred between 2000 and 2010.
Louisiana suffered 79 major outages over the past 20 years. The state’s outage rate followed national trends, growing to an average of about six outages per year over the past 10 years.
The state with the most blackouts was Texas, followed by Michigan and then California.
Regionally, the Southeast ranked the highest with 474 weather-related outages. The Midwest came in second with 363, and the Northeast was third with 346.
A police vehicle travels on Interstate 10 in New Orleans on Aug. 30, 2021, the morning after Hurricane Ida caused power failures across the region.
Climate Central’s report was based on U.S. Department of Energy data for outages that affected at least 50,000 power customers.
While hurricanes, floods and rainstorms have grown in severity, the nation’s power grid has been slow to adapt.
“The majority of the nation’s electrical infrastructure was established decades ago and wasn’t built to function in our present-day climate,” the report says.
Much of the electricity in the U.S. is transmitted above ground via wires, transformers and utility poles - all of which are vulnerable to severe weather.
Entergy has finished replacing the transmission line that crosses the Mississippi River to bring power to metro New Orleans. The line, which was knocked down nearly a year ago by Hurricane Ida, required building massive towers in Harahan and Avondale. (Handout photo by Entergy)
A prime local example was the massive Avondale transmission tower that crumpled onto the Mississippi River’s banks when Hurricane Ida ripped through Louisiana last year. Outages after Ida left more than a million households and businesses in the dark for days and were a factor in at least a dozen deaths in the New Orleans area.
Billions of dollars have been poured into repairing the region’s storm-damaged transmission system over the past two years, but much of it relies on just eight lines to get electricity to the area.
Entergy Louisiana and Entergy New Orleans say the improvements they’ve undertaken in recent months will allow faster recoveries than in the past.
“With stronger poles and towers, we’d be able to rebuild transmission more quickly,” Deanna Rodriguez, CEO of Entergy New Orleans, said in May.
An electrical tower that held transmission lines over the Mississippi River before Hurricane Ida is seen in Harahan on Thursday, December 23, 2021. The transmission lines fell into the river when a tower along the Mississippi River in Avondale that supplies power to New Orleans and the east bank of Jefferson Parish collapsed during the hurricane.(Photo by Brett Duke, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
But Entergy’s focus has been on fixing what’s broken, not replacing what’s old and likely to fail.
Aging power infrastructure is a national problem. According to 2015 Department of Energy analysis, about two-thirds of transformers and a quarter of all transmission lines are 25 years of age or older, and about 60% of all circuit breakers were installed before 1986.
While hurricanes are the obvious threat to Louisiana’s power grid, Climate Central warned that “cold waves” are a growing concern in the South. The report highlighted how plummeting temperatures in February 2021 caused power outages throughout the southern region, especially Texas.
According to federal estimates, almost 10 million people were without power and about 210 people died due to cold exposure, ice accidents and carbon monoxide poisoning, usually from gas-powered generators.
Twenty-four solar panels, undamaged by Hurricane Ida, plus batteries provided Devin De Wulf with enough energy to keep his appliances running and to charge devices and other necessities for his Bywater neighbors amid the storm's extended power outage. The panels are seen Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021.
Much of Texas’ energy infrastructure had not been winterized, leaving components to freeze. About 60% of the generators that went offline in Texas were fueled by natural gas, an energy source that’s especially vulnerable to “freeze-offs,” when wellheads and pipelines seize up from cold temperatures.
Climate Central offered several recommendations for building a more weather-resilient power system:
But the biggest impact would be a substantial reduction in the fossil fuel emissions that are rapidly altering the climate and helping trigger the recent spike in weather calamities.
“Ultimately, cutting emissions is the most meaningful action that can be taken to slow the rate of warming and the mounting stress on our power grid, and to allow more time to plan and adapt to our changing climate,” the report said.
Study sees potential for 510,000 megawatts, twice the current needs of all five Gulf states
Louisiana is considering whether to overhaul its electric market to break up the monopolies that have controlled power generation and distribution in the state for decades, a possibility that has created battle lines between massive petrochemical plants and Cleco and Entergy, the dominant utilities.
A new transmission tower is rising over Avondale as hurricane season begins, replacing the structure that crumpled onto the Mississippi River’…
This work is supported with a grant funded by the Walton Family Foundation and administered by the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Tristan Baurick: tbaurick@theadvocate.com; on Twitter: @tristanbaurick.
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