Leo Denault, Entergy chairman and CEO, recently sat down with Grid Talk podcast, a series of conversations with the leaders and innovators shaping the 21st century energy grid. Denault discussed a number of current topics with podcast host Marty Rosenberg, including the severe wind damage to the electric grid caused by Hurricane Ida and how electric utilities and policymakers must be mindful of customers’ pocketbooks when accelerating upgrades to strengthen the electrical grid.

As Hurricane Ida pushes into our service area, we are prepared for the significant threat of high winds and flash flooding. A prolonged period of high winds and heavy rain increases the potential for extended power outages. We expect the restoration effort to take several days and up to a week or more in our hardest hit areas.

Extremely hot weather across the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s region, including the Entergy service territory, may drive increased energy usage for the next few days. The heat wave could create an overall demand for power that exceeds generation capacity and a request for customers to voluntarily conserve power. 

Arkansas Power and Light founder Harvey Couch made a deal in 1913 to purchase sawdust – the company’s first fuel source – to burn and power a steam-powered turbine and send power through a 20-mile transmission line to customers in Malvern and Arkadelphia. That was the beginning of what would become Entergy Corporation, an integrated energy company engaged in electric power production, transmission and retail distribution operations across four service territories for 3 million customers. A little more than 10 years later, Mr. Couch’s Sterlington natural gas-powered plant in north Louisiana was placed online in November 1925. As the demand for electricity grew, so did the company’s fleet of power generation resources. Couch built Remmel Dam, the first hydroelectric dam on the Ouachita River, near Hot Springs in 1924. Just upstream in 1931 came Carpenter Dam, and both dams still generate emission-free power today.