NEW ORLEANS — Several nonprofits pushed Entergy to embrace large scale transmission expansion in adjusting to a growing renewable fleet during an Entergy Regional State Committee Working Group meeting Wednesday.

Debra Lew, with Energy Systems Integration Group, said Entergy’s corporate decarbonization goal requires transmission. The company committed in 2020 that it would meet a 100% clean energy goal by 2050.

Lew said Entergy should have a “triple goal” in the transition: “clean, reliable and affordable.” She said large-scale transmission projects are key to ensuring those goals.

“The larger the geographic size of transmission expansion, coordination, the cheaper the energy,” she said. “Transmission costs are tiny compared to other resources and infrastructure costs.”

Andy Kowalczyk, with activist group 350 New Orleans, also advocated for a robust transmission system and called for a re-examination of MISO South’s planning needs.

“Utility trends in the changing resource profile for MISO South, public policy goals and prevalence of extreme weather events drive the need for a reassessment of planning for the bulk power system in the region,” he said.

Kowalczyk said between Entergy utilities’ and Cleco’s current requests for proposals, MISO South is primed for an additional 4.2 GW of renewable generation. He said he pictures even more RFPs within five years.

“This is only the beginning of this generation shift,” he said. “There will need to be adjustments in transmission planning to deliver renewables and meet this shift.”

He also said an “inability to transfer power from outside of impact zones hindered recovery for Louisiana and Texas residents after Hurricanes Laura and Ida.”

Laura in 2020 and Ida in 2021 were the strongest hurricanes to ever strike Louisiana.

Clean Grid Alliance’s Natalie McIntire asked Entergy leadership to prepare a future presentation on how the utilities plan to handle a clean transformation in terms of generation and transmission planning.