Entergy restored power to a fraction of its customers in New Orleans Wednesday morning, using a transmission line from the northern side of Lake Pontchartrain and a small gas-fired generator.  

The utility, which said it lost all eight transmission lines into the New Orleans area during Hurricane Ida, reported it had returned electricity to approximately 11,500 customers in the New Orleans East area as of noon.

“That number is growing gradually. The power restoration process will be slow and steady in the coming days. At the same time, damage assessments are continuing,” Entergy spokesman Neal Kirby said in an emailed statement to RTO Insider.

Kirby said the limited power supply is being prioritized for “hospitals, first responders, water treatment and other essential community services.” He said crews continue to work “around the clock” to restore what power they can. So far, Entergy has managed to reenergize its Mid-City substation, the Mid-City VA hospital, the New Orleans Fire Department and the city’s 911 operations center, among other buildings.

The limited power is being supplied through the natural gas-fired, 128-MW New Orleans Power Station, brought online a year ago to assist with storm restoration. The station can only furnish about 10% of New Orleans’ peak demand of 1,100 MW. In a Wednesday conference call with reporters, Entergy Louisiana CEO Phillip May said the power is being delivered to New Orleans across Lake Pontchartrain via transmission in Slidell in St. Tammany Parish.

Entergy (NYSE:ETR) called it a “first light” and “a sign of hope” after two days of complete blackout in metro New Orleans. Entergy said yesterday that it preferred re-establishing transmission links to New Orleans rather than it remaining an island and limping along on generation inside the city. (See Entergy Investigations Certain to Follow Hurricane Ida Restoration.)

Greater New Orleans remains largely islanded from the rest of the Eastern Interconnection. (See Entergy Investigations Certain to Follow Hurricane Ida Restoration.)

Entergy said the goal remains to rejoin New Orleans and the surrounding areas with the transmission system. On Tuesday, a crew of about 10 was filmed stretching new cable across Interstate 10 near New Orleans.

May and Entergy New Orleans CEO Deanna Rodriguez said they will add to the New Orleans Station’s output via the Slidell line by also linking the 655-MW Ninemile Point in Jefferson Parish in an attempt to move power west and get more of New Orleans lit. Entergy may eventually be able to create a loop of power that reaches more substations and neighborhoods.  

“While initial service can be provided to some customers, the full restoration will still take time given the significant damage across the region. Crews will have to methodically bring back additional transmission lines over time to provide other pathways for power to enter the region, helping to maintain stability of the system throughout the complete restoration process,” the utility said in a Wednesday update.

Entergy warned that its grid remains limited in what it can transport around the city: “With extensive damage to the system across the region, much of the redundancy built into the electric system is limited. This makes it difficult to move power around the region to customers, and limits options to power customers in the event of equipment failure or additional damage to the system.”

In an afternoon update Entergy said that road closures and “other accessibility challenges due to the storm” could delay restoration in other areas of the state. The utility said that as of 1 p.m. it had assessed about 36% of affected infrastructure in its service area, finding 2,095 broken poles, 422 damaged transformers, and 2,351 downed spans of wire.

“Based on historical restoration times, customers in the direct path of a storm as intense as Hurricane Ida could experience outages for more than three weeks,” it said. “While 90% of customers will be restored sooner, customers in the hardest-hit areas should plan for the possibility of experiencing extended power outages.”

Cleco also said it had restored power to some customers, with 85,262 customers in St. Tammany Parish and 797 customers in Washington Parish still without power as of 4 p.m.

New Orleans and other portions of southeast Louisiana face 100-plus heat indexes over the next several days.

The upper portion of Jefferson Parish remains uninhabitable due to floodwaters. Jefferson Parish Emergency Management Director Joe Valiente advised residents to “seek shelter in another state or outside of this area.” He said it would be some time before the upper part of the Parish can “restore the services that are necessary for everyday living.” Jefferson Parish’s Metairie ― which contained a MISO office until 2019 ― sustained considerable damage with widespread roof destruction, he said.  

Valiente told several news outlets that it could take six weeks to restore power in his parish. He characterized the grid as “100% smashed.”

The New Orleans City Council, which regulates Entergy New Orleans, will hold a special meeting at 10 a.m. CT Thursday. The meeting will be “limited to the consideration of emergency storm-related appropriations” since the emergency is still ongoing, the council said.

New Orleans City Council President Helena Moreno has promised inquiries into the complete failure of the Entergy system in the city.