Some $10 million in improvements will harden the system against storms and outages, while also making it more resistant to cyber-attacks and physical threats. This is in addition to nearly $16.6 million being spent on similar projects in Jackson.
“This is part of a multi-year investment designed to strengthen all parts of our grid to help reduce power outages,” said Rob Logan, Entergy Mississippi customer service representative in Clinton. “A strong, reliable power grid is critical to our safety and way of life, and it’s necessary for job creation and growth.”
Entergy has completed or is working on the following projects in Hinds County:
vegetation management—the company is spending more than $1.6 million to trim vegetation from 515 miles of line in Clinton, Byram, Terry, Edwards and Bolton;
substation work—some $6.2 million will be spent on two new distribution substations that will be in service by the end of 2017 or early 2018, the Tinnin Road substation in northern Hinds County and the Wynndale substation south of Byram;
equipment replacement—more than $2.2 million will be spent replacing and upgrading existing equipment, with nearly $500,000 of that going toward reliability projects that address areas that have experienced numerous outages over a short period of time.
Last year, Entergy spent more than $66.5 million on reliability projects in its 45-county Mississippi service area. Entergy’s electrical assets have grown as Mississippi has grown. Today, the company manages more than 20,000 miles of electrical lines, 291 substations, five natural gas-powered generating plants and one nuclear plant in the state.
Much of this infrastructure has been in place for more than 60 years. While the company has maintained and expanded that infrastructure, eventually the time comes to replace aging equipment with new and improved technology.
