Letters: Louisiana's grid is overloaded; solar can help
On May 25, more than 100,000 Louisiana homes lost power — suddenly and without warning. As families celebrated Memorial Day, a brownout swept through neighborhoods. The culprit? Our overloaded power grid.
Entergy confirmed the outage was triggered by MISO, the regional transmission operator, after demand surged beyond safe limits. This wasn’t a storm. This was a typical hot day, and our grid couldn’t keep up.
As temperatures rise, so does demand for electricity. Without solutions to reduce that load, these blackouts will happen more often and with higher stakes. One answer is already working in other states: rooftop solar.
Even in Republican-led states like Texas and Florida, expanded rooftop and community solar are helping to relieve strain on the grid. In Texas, solar paired with batteries helped prevent outages during last summer’s record heat wave. In Florida, major utilities are increasing grid capacity with solar to meet demand more reliably.
Rooftop solar can do the same here. When homes generate their own power, it eases pressure on the system, helping keep everyone’s lights on. But for many Louisiana families, solar only becomes an option because of federal energy credits.
Right now, though, those energy bill credits are under threat in Congress. If they’re eliminated, thousands of working families across our state could lose access to the cost savings and grid relief solar provides.
You don’t need panels on your roof to benefit. Every solar home strengthens the grid and helps keep your bills stable.
Urge your senators to defend residential energy credits — and help keep the power on for all of us.
JHANE WILCOX
senior director of marketing, PosiGen Solar