Entergy seeks grant funds for PA project

Entergy Texas reported it is “aggressively pursuing U.S. government grant funding” for its infrastructure and electrical grid -hardening project in Port Arthur, seeking to offset the cost of the $79.5 million project serving its almost half a million customers across Southeast Texas.

“Modernizing our electrical grid and enhancing grid flexibility are essential components of building a more resilient power system,” said Eliecer Viamontes, president and CEO of Entergy Texas. “This generational funding opportunity will help strengthen our communities while minimizing the impacts on our customers’ monthly energy bills.”

Entergy Texas reported the project calls for hardening a total of 900 transmission structures and undergrounding 57 distribution structures and associated spans. The proposed infrastructure improvements would “bolster the grid’s reliability during extreme weather events, directly benefitting approximately 7,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers within disadvantaged communities of Port Arthur,” according to Entergy, by improving circuit reliability during extreme weather and facilitating more rapid restoration of the system if outages occur.

“As mayor of the great city of Port Arthur, I embrace and support Entergy Texas in its quest to be awarded grant funding for its infrastructure and electrical grid-hardening project,” said Port Arthur Mayor Thurman Bartie. “The possibility of increased resiliency of electric power delivery is paramount to enhancing the quality of life in Port Arthur. Consideration and subsequent awarding of the requested grant will be an investment in a community striving to overcome adversity and financial challenges.”

To learn more about the Entergy Future Ready resilience plan, visit entergy.com/future.