The Climate Change and Sustainability Committee of the New Orleans City Council met on September 23, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. (agenda time) to consider a resolution for a battery storage pilot program, a motion for a drainage project, and to receive a presentation on Lafitte Greenway improvements. The meeting featured extensive public testimony and unanimous support for the agenda items.
All right. We will go ahead and get started. I think we have a quorum. Let's go ahead and do roll call, please. Council Member Green present. Council Member Willard, present. Council Member McKaren present. We have a quorum. Okay. All right. You want to read in our agenda item number three? Okay, the first uh the agenda item number three is a resolution for distributed energy resource program, uh council docket UD 2402. The committee will consider a resolution to approve phase three battery energy storage system, distributed energy resource pilot program. All right, great. Well, good morning, everyone. Very exciting day today, I know for everyone. So today we are voting on the neighborhood power plan. This is a program to build a more resilient energy system in New Orleans and the largest per capita virtual power plant in the country. This plan started as a small pilot program to expand distributed energy resources and battery storage, and today we have finalized a $29 million program with $23 million of upfront incentives to get batteries on homes to build reliability from the neighborhood up. Just in the past six months, we've had over 24,000 outages in New Orleans with more than 150 hours of people living in darkness, waiting for the grid to catch up. Every outage is a reminder that we need a more reliable and flexible electric grid. The investments we are making today are the difference in someone's life in someone's business having to throw out hundreds of pounds of food, medication in the fridge not going bad, and keeping someone out of the hospital for a heat-related illness. And most importantly, building reliability and reduce stress on the grid every day. The batteries in the neighborhood power plan are multifaceted. During an outage, they can provide backup power directly to homes that have them, and while the larger grid is being restored. And when the grid is under stress, they can be coordinated to reduce demand and provide additional capacity when it is needed most. On homes with solar panels, batteries can also store the excess free solar power harvested during the day and cut costs by freeing users of the cost of the grid overnight. Let's talk about some of the details in the resolution. So this resolution provides incentives for for both residential and commercial commercial customers. The initial upfront incentives are $850 per kilowatt hour for uh low-income residential, $550 for non-LMI or low-income residential, and $550 per kilowatt hour for commercial customers. And we have caps included in there as well, and we've increased those. The LMI customers are specifically prioritized with 40% of the residential upfront incentive earmarked for low and middle income customers to ensure little to no out-of-pocket expense. The council is establishing clear funding limits. The program includes 23.6 million for the upfront incentives over years one through three and three million for administrative costs and non other non-incentive costs. However, could customer protection was also a major priority of the council. Since many residential participants are expected to work with third-party battery owners or developers, this resolution directs Entergy New Orleans, Curo, and the advisors to help develop customer protections and industry best practices. And because this council wants measurable results, not simple, not simply battery installations. In summary, this resolution gives us a practical path to expand battery storage and distributed energy resources in New Orleans, while maintaining affordability, customer protections, and council oversight. We're establishing clear incentives and funding limits, prioritizing the low to middle income customers, and requiring Entergy to just demonstrate how these resources will provide both customers, value to both customers and the electric grid. Upon adoption to the by the full council, Entergy must submit a modified implementation plan consistent with this resolution by October 31st, 2026, with a proposed program launched no later than the first quarter of 2027. So I just want to say before I let my colleagues make comments, um, thank you to my staff, to Councilmember Willard's staff, to Curo, the advisors, and most importantly, you guys that are sitting in the audience today and the community for always bringing us ideas and solutions. It's because of your advocacy and your support of this council that we are here today, building a stronger, more reliable, and more resistant New Orleans resilient New Orleans. So thank you all for being here, and thanks for your support and your action. Would any of my colleagues like to speak? Councilmember Willard. Thank you, Chairwoman McCarron, and to everybody who's joining us today. Thank you. Um we are prepared to make history. One of the common narratives in the city of New Orleans is that's just the way we do it. We've always done it that way.