Washington, DC and New Orleans, December 15, 2023: Leading Federal Grants firm, McAllister & Quinn, is excited to announce its partnership with Entergy New Orleans has succeeded in securing a $55 million dollar grant to fortify the local energy grid and prevent power outages in severe weather.
Entergy New Orleans provides electricity to more than 200,000 customers and natural gas to more than 100,000 customers in Orleans Parish, Louisiana. Together, McAllister & Quinn and Entergy New Orleans secured the $55 million grant from the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program, for an extensive plan to improve the grid’s resilience during extreme weather.
The plan includes the hardening of around 97 transmission structures, which is expected to prevent more than 564 million customer minutes of interruptions. Around 381 distribution structures will also be hardened, to avoid more than 45 million customer minutes of interruptions. The upgrades will reduce the frequency and the duration of power outages by using advanced electric infrastructure hardening and battery installation.
“We’re proud to be a partner with Entergy New Orleans on this award,” said Deji Akanbi, VP of Advanced Technology at McAllister & Quinn. “Entergy New Orleans is committed to using this $55 million to help the most vulnerable populations in New Orleans East, some of whom never truly recovered from Hurricane Katrina. This project is expected to improve energy reliability for more than 49,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers.”
McAllister & Quinn worked with
Entergy New Orleans to develop a competitive application for the DOE, engaging
writers, reviewers, and subject matter experts to effectively convey Entergy
New Orleans’ vision.
“This is a huge win for our customers, for our community, and for the City of New Orleans,” said Deanna Rodriguez, President and CEO of Entergy New Orleans. “Federal grant funds at this scale will enable us to make our grid stronger — to keep the lights on longer when storms threaten in the future, and to restore power more quickly when service is interrupted. These funds will help offset the cost burden on our customers. We are deeply grateful to the DOE and to everyone who supported our application.”
The project also contains a comprehensive Community Benefits Plan. Entergy New Orleans will join with key partners, including the New Orleans Career Center, the First72+, and Delgado Community College, to foster workforce development programs. The Community Benefits Advisory Board will have a vital role in advising the project area’s customers of construction updates and specific benefits for the New Orleans East community.
“The impact of this award goes beyond grid efficiency,” said Andy Quinn, Managing Partner of McAllister & Quinn. “Entergy is also committed to working with institutions throughout the community to cultivate new workforce development programs and provide line worker training for 500 formerly incarcerated individuals.”
To follow Entergy New Orleans’ resilience investments and continued efforts to harden the grid through “Operation: Gridiron,” visit: entergyneworleans.com/townhalls.
About McAllister & Quinn: McAllister & Quinn is a premier federal grant consulting and government relations firm. Based in Washington, DC, McAllister & Quinn’s unique approach has helped clients secure over $3.2 billion in federal grants.
Media Contact: Michelle Goldberg, Director of Business Development, McAllister & Quinn
Tel: (202) 216-4488
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