Entergy breaks ground on New Orleans solar project

Entergy New Orleans broke ground Tuesday (Feb. 2) on the utility's first solar power project in the city. It will start generating power for New Orleans customers later this year.

Entergy officials and community leaders gathered to commemorate the start of the project, which will include more than 4,000 solar panels installed on company property in eastern New Orleans.

The panels will have enough capacity to generate up to one megawatt of electricity. That is enough to power around 160 average American homes, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.

Electricity generated by the panels will be fed directly to the city's power grid, benefiting all Entergy customers in New Orleans, according to a news release. Entergy serves about 194,000 electricity customers in the city.

In addition to solar panels, Entergy New Orleans said its project incorporates "state-of-the-art" battery storage technology.

Entergy New Orleans has chosen Blattner Energy Inc. to build its first solar power project in the city, the utility said Monday (Aug. 24). Construction is expected to start in early 2016.

The company seeks to test how well it can store power generated by solar panels. Doing so would ensure electricity is available even on cloudy days.

Blattner Energy, based in Avon, Minn., is set to start construction on the project this month. South Coast Solar, based in Metairie, will assist in the installation.

Entergy expects the solar panels will be in service by mid-2016.