Executive summary
Entergy crews are working to update power lines across central Arkansas for better reliability. The process involving updating electricity in a southwest Little Rock neighborhood is currently underway, where the crew is removing parts of each line to set up new ones.
This effort is part of Entergy's broader aim to enhance the grid's efficiency and sturdiness against outages and severe weather, which can be caused by factors such as weather, overgrown vegetation, animals, or human damage. Despite initial concerns among locals about flickering lights, Entergy officials emphasize that even short outages are a natural part of the system, with each occurrence prompting further investigation.
Addressing worries about extreme winter weather, Entergy customer service regional manager Chris Cook reassured residents that they are prepared for such events through periodic storm drills and training. He encouraged customers to feel secure knowing their power grid is equipped to handle various weather conditions.
Entergy enhances central Arkansas’s power grid to boost reliability
Entergy crews are working to update power lines across central Arkansas for better reliability. Here's how.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Electricity keeps us going in our daily lives. Some people wonder how sturdy our grid is when there are flickers or outages, especially during severe weather.
An Entergy crew is currently updating the electricity in a southwest Little Rock neighborhood. After some concerns, the crew is taking a part of each line to set up for new.
The process of removing each pole takes several hours, but after the project is complete, the power should be more reliable.
It's a part of Entergy's efforts to make the grid more efficient as a whole.
Some people in the Little Rock area have been concerned with flickering or short outages, but Entergy said that shows the lines are working.
"When you see a blink, if you ever have to come home and reset your clocks, that tells you the system is trying to clear faults automatically," Entergy Customer Service Regional Manager Chris Cook said. "When you see multiple blinks, that causes us to investigate and find the issue."
Cook added just a couple of outages will prompt an investigation. Some of the biggest culprits of outages are weather, overgrown limbs or plants, animals and damage from a person.
After those short flickers, some people asked if the grid could handle other extreme weather, especially in the winter.
Entergy said the answer is yes.
"Periodically throughout the year, we have storm drills to prepare for those types of weather events," Cook said. "I would say to customers, 'Rest assured we are ready for winter time.'"