How our grid teams reclaimed materials, lowered costs

Insights > How our grid teams reclaimed materials, lowered costs

How our grid teams reclaimed materials, lowered costs

08/01/2024

Engineers are key players in our business. Along with operations coordinators and supervisors, they turn data into design, making grid improvements more resilient and reliable. When it came to a recent substation rebuild in Winona, Mississippi, these grid teams took their duties a step further and in turn saved our customers $390,000.

Nearly a year after a deadly EF-3 tornado tore through the Mississippi Delta, and destroyed essential equipment at our Winona Substation, the facility is back in operation. Throughout the repair process, engineers used creative problem-solving to not only boost the project's efficiency, but to also save money on materials.

"Instead of going to the storeroom to use brand new supplies for every piece of the project, our grid engineers, with the help of area supervisors, and operations coordinators, went looking for high quality spare parts and structures that were no longer needed at other substations. They spread out across our service area on the hunt for materials that could be applied," said John Stevens, senior manager, grid.

After a storm, restoration expenses are considered a cost of providing electric service, and they are paid for by customers. "It was important that we found creative ways to lower the cost of the rebuild. We were able to pass savings along to our customers," Stevens added. Using as many reclaimed materials as possible also helped save time, as supply chain lead times on some new materials would have extended the project's completion date. These extra efforts to find quality materials show Entergy's dedication to customer centricity.

In total, the substation cost approximately $3.5 million. That included replacing towers, a capacitor bank, lots of steel structures, the control house, fencing, and even some poles. The cost of the substation was much lower than what it could have been, thanks to the hard work of the engineering teams.

"There were many days that our grid team here in Mississippi huddled up to determine what equipment needed replacing, and made sure the equipment we gathered was right for the project," said Stevens. "And project management and design teams in New Orleans served as great partners in making the rebuild efficient and timely. Plus, our construction teams helped relocate the materials."

While the project moved through its various stages, the Winona community was being served by a mobile substation - a mammoth piece of equipment that acts just like a permanent substation.

"When Winona was impacted by the tornado, it cut the substation out of an essential transmission equation. That substation helps feed three other substations. Bringing the mobile unit in helped us serve the distribution lines while we worked on the transmission end," Stevens said.

As part of our storm hardening efforts, mobile substations are on standby, ready to deploy when severe weather compromises our substations. And now, the mobile unit that had been in Winona since March 2023 has returned home to await its next heroic duty.