NEW ORLEANS — Three weeks ago people were stuck in elevators, businesses couldn’t open and one school had to let out early when the Central Business District and some surrounding areas lost power. The very next day, parts of Lakeview and Lake Vista lost power for about 30 minutes.
In both instances, Entergy blamed animals.
New Orleans city council members now want to know what the utility plans to do about it.
Entergy has installed a noisemaker at its Derbigny substation in an effort to deter birds from interfering with equipment. It was put up a couple of weeks after a bird was blamed for a major power outage in the Central Business District.
“We had an EF-3 or EF-4 tornado that came through and knocked out power to 8,948 people and we had a bird that knocked out power to more people than that,” said council member Helena Moreno.
The power outage to more than 10,000 customers came when a bird perched on a steel support structure apparently opened its wings and came into contact with an energized part of the system.
“Although it sounds absurd, animal interferences with utility infrastructure cause a significant risk in our entire industry,” said Courtney Nicholson, Entergy’s Vice-President of Regulatory Affairs.
“I’m still struggling because birds extending their wings is a pretty foreseeable occurrence,” said Council member J.P. Morrell.
One day later, Entergy officials said a squirrel knocked out power for 27 minutes to 3,700 customers in Lakeview and Lake Vista.
Entergy officials said there are animal deterrents like a fence installed in 2018 but they said there is no silver bullet.
“We can and must do better,” said Nicholson.
“There’s no commercially available animal mitigation product,” said Michelle Bourg, the Vice-President of Asset Management at Entergy New Orleans.
Not all residents were buying the explanations.
“When we are talking about birds on the wires, that’s a bunch of BS,” said Sylvia McKenzie.
Entergy says one possible plan is a laser system at the Derbigny station to help deter the birds.
“That basically paints the substation with a visual distraction for the bird, doesn’t cause harm to the bird,” said Bourg.
That laser system should be installed in the next few months.
This is the second time Entergy has had to face the city council due to an animal-related outage in the last year. In July 2021, a bird was blamed for a massive outage that also came through the Derbigny substation.