Investor-owned utility Entergy recently completed the restoration of 138-kV transmission lines connected to the City of Vinton, La., that were damaged by Hurricane Laura. Crews from Lafayette Utilities Systems (LUS) continue to help restore power to customers in the public power city.
Earlier this month, power was largely restored to Vinton, La., after the city was hit hard by Hurricane Laura last month. Crews from several public power utilities played a key role in helping to bring power back to the city in an expedited fashion.
Crews from Louisiana public power utility LUS, Florida public power utility Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU) and Alabama public power utilities deployed in late August to assist with restoration efforts after Vinton was hit by Laura.
Alex Antonowitsch, an LUS spokesman, noted in a Sept. 10 email that Vinton had been 80 percent restored. The remainder were due to structural or electrical damage that would require the resident to have resolved, he said.
On Sept. 22, Vinton was taken off a 34.5-kV transformer and put on the 138-kV lines, noted Greg Labbe,’ LUS Electric Operations Manager.
“The 34.5 kV transformer was a temporary solution and had limited capacity,” said Ryan Romero, LUS Substations & Communications Supervisor. “Now that Entergy completed restoring the 138-kV lines, power can fully be restored to the city.”
LUS crews are now in the process of connecting all the larger commercial businesses and any other Vinton residents who might have had extensive damage and needed additional repairs after the storm, Romero noted.
