BATON ROUGE — Entergy Louisiana and local governments are working together to implement improvements on multiple southeast Louisiana parishes' energy grids — including Ascension Parish — with funds provided by federal Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grants, the company announced Monday.

A $39 million project funded by a FEMA grant is in the works to fortify nearly 60 miles of power lines in Ascension Parish. Entergy said that the upgrades will protect around 5,900 customers and critical infrastructure, including a hospital, schools and government buildings.

The project is expected to prevent 5.6 million hours of outages and save nearly $140 million in restoration costs over the next five decades, Entergy added.

The power company said that the need for grid resilience was highlighted by the impact of Hurricane Francine.

Similar projects are in the works in Lafourche and Jefferson parishes. 

Entergy said they are also awaiting decisions on two Grid Resilience and Innovative Partnerships grant applications that could secure up to $67 million for projects in Baton Rouge or $54 million for projects in Reserve. These grants, provided through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, would fund half the cost of the projects, designed to reduce damage from storms, lower restoration costs and improve day-to-day reliability, Entergy said.

“Strengthening the grid for our customers is a top priority,” Entergy President and CEO Phillip May said. “When we make these investments, we’re not only preparing for the next storm—we’re also ensuring a stronger, more resilient future for all of Louisiana.”