City Council surprised by Sewerage and Water Board plan to add turbine
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) — The Sewerage and Water Board wants to add a new turbine to its power supply for pumps, a move that comes as a surprise to the City Council less than a year after the utility switched from turbine power to a $280 million Entergy power complex.
According to a video statement released late Thursday, the utility is looking to add turbine power following an investigation into failures at Entergy’s power complex during Tropical Storm Arthur. The utility had petitioned for years to get the complex built, and it powered up in December.
“In conjunction with Entergy, we reviewed the events and also engaged an independent third-party engineering firm,” Sewerage and Water Board Executive Director Randy Hayman said in the statement.
The New Orleans City Council now has oversight of Sewerage and Water Board operations. However, Councilwoman Aimee McCarron said the utility never briefed the council on the new plan, adding that the video statement was a surprise.
“Until I saw the video, we were not aware that that was something they were working on,” McCarron said.
Hayman defended the strategy, saying that combining the grid and a turbine will provide two continuous power sources. The utility has also taken steps to keep pumps running if Entergy loses some of its power supply, he said.
“Some have asked why we would use a new turbine in addition to the substation. Having the ability to operate in multiple modes in different conditions is standard responsible engineering practice,” Hayman said.
McCarron, however, said the plan does not make sense given the purpose of the new substation.
“I’m hoping that he just misspoke and that’s not something that we are trying to do because we have the substation and that was the purpose of it. That we are not having any new turbines, so that is something we will have to follow up with him about,” McCarron said.
Hayman said the process of adding the new turbine is already underway and should be completed by the end of the year.
Local residents also raised questions about bringing back older technology so soon after the completion of the new power complex.
“We’ve already kind of seen just spotty coverage, power outages with the storms, so I’m not sure where they’re headed with that but I hope they’re thoughtful about it,” Lakeview resident Ashley Brown said.
McCarron said she will add the matter to the agenda for the next Public Works Committee meeting Sept. 8. The utility released its video statement just hours after the committee met Thursday.
See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Click Here to report it. Please include the headline.
Subscribe to the Fox 8 YouTube channel.