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Welcome to the Bayou blog

Providing insights, commentary and research in support of critical electrical grid upgrades in New Orleans to best ensure the Crescent City remains a vital place to live and work.

A Grid-Sized Game of Telephone Energy VulnerabilityPower GridsPower Shut-Offs

A Grid-Sized Game of Telephone

What Sunday’s Outage Revealed About Transmission, Load Shedding, and Grid Coordination On Sunday, May 25, more than 125,000 Louisiana households experienced brief but widespread power outages. It wasn’t a hurricane or a lightning strike. In fact, the weather was relatively calm. The culprit? A regional reliability directive known as a load shed order, triggered by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO)…
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June 3, 2025
Canopy and Current: Finding Balance Between Trees and Grid Resilience in New Orleans Energy ResponsibilityEnergy VulnerabilityPower Lines

Canopy and Current: Finding Balance Between Trees and Grid Resilience in New Orleans

New Orleans loves its trees. We write songs about them. We name streets after them. And in summer, we depend on them because shade is as much a survival strategy as it is a scenic bonus. That’s why there was so much local energy around a major federal grant that would’ve funded tree planting in underserved neighborhoods like the Lower…
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May 16, 2025
Today I Learned: Adding a Battery to Your Home Isn’t as Simple as Plugging It In Battery Storage

Today I Learned: Adding a Battery to Your Home Isn’t as Simple as Plugging It In

This week’s technical conference on distributed energy batteries in New Orleans was packed with smart debates about cost-benefit ratios, equity, and bill impacts. But for me, the most eye-opening moments were about the technology hurdles hiding inside our walls. So, here’s a “Today I Learned” roundup about what it really takes to put a battery on the house, and why it’s harder (and…
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May 5, 2025
Oil, Oversight, and the Gulf: What a Court Ruling Says About Responsibility in the Energy Era Energy Responsibility

Oil, Oversight, and the Gulf: What a Court Ruling Says About Responsibility in the Energy Era

A recent federal court decision hit pause on a new round of offshore oil leases in the Gulf of Mexico—not because drilling was off the table, but because the environmental review didn’t hold up. The ruling sends a clear message: we can’t afford to go on autopilot when it comes to energy development, especially in a region like the Gulf…
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April 11, 2025