Ida Is Proof That Louisiana Needs To Embrace Building Microgrids
Last week, Hurricane Ida knocked out all 8 transmission lines into New Orleans. In Baton Rouge, it took out our communications along with our electricity — with the exception of those who had Verizon. Although most of Baton Rouge is getting back online, New Orleans as well as smaller towns and cities still don’t have power.
Someone shared an article by Canary Media with me, and after reading it, I fully agree. We need microgrids here in Louisiana, yet our leaders don’t seem to want them. Advocates have been trying for years to make our local grid resilient, but oddly, our leaders don’t seem to want that. Why?
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen governments (local, state, etc.) purposely refuse to do things that benefit everyone. It’s like they want us to have messed up grids so that we suffer during disasters. The article cited another article by Canary Media that showed the outcome following local authorities’ repeated dismissals of proposals to invest in decentralized and resilient grid upgrades.
In 2016, a New Orleans-based nonprofit, Alliance for Affordable Energy, had a great alternative to Entergy New Orleans’ plan to build a new natural-gas-fired power plant. That idea was to build clean electricity resilience from the ground up — an integrated resilience plan that challenged Entergy New Orleans to try to find an alternative to a central power plant. The plant would be subject to known vulnerabilities — such as the impact of a category 4 hurricane.
The Alliance for Affordable Energy called for pursuing distributed microgrids. The article aptly described these as self-powered islands of solar power, batteries, and backup generation that could provide electricity during grid outages. If only we had these during Ida. Executive director Logan Atkinson Burke shared how this was frustrating. “Had we taken the time and initiative to plan for distributed generation, distributed solar-plus-storage, and more energy efficiency, people would be more prepared to shelter safely and comfortably,” Burke said. “We’ve been advocating for microgrids to be built within the city for years for precisely this reason.”
Here’s Why Entergy Doesn’t Want Distributed Energy
The problem is Entergy’s long-standing opposition to distributed energy. The utility has consistently opposed including local renewable energy and energy storage in its own plans. Utilities also get an incentive when they convince regulators to approve large power plants instead of enabling customer-sited distributed energy such as rooftop solar. The article pointed out that vertically integrated utilities such as Entergy are paid a guaranteed rate of return on capital investments, including power plants. Self-supplied customer energy reduces the revenue and profits Entergy and other utilities earn from selling electricity.
It’s all about money, profits, and greed. They make more money from weakening our defenses against disasters such as Ida than they would from strengthening them. And we, the people, end up paying the price. And our government readily caters to this greed. Not just Louisiana’s — this trend is seen elsewhere as well.
Car dealerships in Connecticut, for example, lobby legislatures to prevent Tesla and Rivian from coming to their state and opening a sales center. This hurts the economy, but they do it anyway. It’s all about greed, money, and profits.
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Volvo Cars took the wraps off new-for-2026 S90 plug-in hybrid, calling the big sedan the most elegant and comfortable 90 yet, promising nearly 50 miles (80 km) of all-electric range and a comprehensive suite of high-end technology and design updates … but if you’re reading this in English, you probably can’t have one.
The updated Volvo S90 is still blinking into the spotlight, but there are already reports that Volvo Cars has decided against bringing the slick new sedan to the US. And Canada. And the UK. And … you get the idea.
That’s too bad, too – because the SPA S90 has always been a comfortable and capable performer. Alas, sedans aren’t selling, you could get whiplash trying to keep track of all the tariff news these days, and Volvo (like a lot of companies in 2025, frankly), no longer needs the English-speaking world to keep it profitable.
“The S90 is a key part of our product portfolio for the coming years in some of our Asian markets,” says Erik Severinson, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Volvo Cars. “Together with the new fully electric ES90, the new S90 ensures we have a complete and attractive offering for customers who value safety and want to drive a large, sleek Volvo sedan.”
Invoking the electric-only ES90 EV is a key point here – and Volvo is pushing its marketing heavily into the idea that the PHEV version(s) of the face-lifted luxo-cruiser is “really” an EV, with press copy that reads:
As a plug-in hybrid, the new S90 is an electric car with a back-up plan. It offers 80 kilometers of fully electric range on a single charge under the WLTP testing cycle, while also providing more power when needed. This means that many S90 drivers will be able to do their daily commute with zero tailpipe emissions. Volvo Cars’ data shows that nearly half of the distance covered by the latest plug-in hybrid Volvo cars is powered purely by electricity.
There’s plenty to unpack there – not the least of which is whether or not the cars’ owners will ever actually plug them in. My personal experience with friends and neighbors who own T8/PHEV Volvos now would tell me that they’re more likely than, say, Jeep Wrangler 4xe owners to plug-in … but it hardly matters at this point.
The new S90 will be available to order for customers in China this summer, with selected other markets following later.
Check out some of the official press photos, below, then let us know whether or not you’ll miss seeing new S90s on English-speaking roads in the comments.
Volvo S90 photo gallery
SOURCE | IMAGES: Volvo Cars.
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On today’s fleet-focused episode of Quick Charge, we talk about a hot topic in today’s trucking industry called, “the messy middle,” explore some of the ways legacy truck brands are working to reduce fuel consumption and increase freight efficiency. PLUS: we’ve got ReVolt Motors’ CEO and founder Gus Gardner on-hand to tell us why he thinks his solution is better.
You know, for some people.
We’ve also got a look at the Kenworth Supertruck 2 concept truck, revisit the Revoy hybrid tandem trailer, and even plug a great article by CCJ’s Jeff Seger, who is asking some great questions over there. All this and more – enjoy!
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If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
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Thanks to Trump’s repeated executive order attacks on US clean energy policy, nearly $8 billion in investments and 16 new large-scale factories and other projects were cancelled, closed, or downsized in Q1 2025.
The $7.9 billion in investments withdrawn since January are more than three times the total investments cancelled over the previous 30 months, according to nonpartisan policy group E2’s latest Clean Economy Works monthly update.
However, companies continue to invest in the US renewable sector. Businesses in March announced 10 projects worth more than $1.6 billion for new solar, EV, and grid and transmission equipment factories across six states. That includes Tesla’s plan to invest $200 million in a battery factory near Houston that’s expected to create at least 1,500 new jobs. Combined, the projects are expected to create at least 5,000 new permanent jobs if completed.
Michael Timberlake of E2 said, “Clean energy companies still want to invest in America, but uncertainty over Trump administration policies and the future of critical clean energy tax credits are taking a clear toll. If this self-inflicted and unnecessary market uncertainty continues, we’ll almost certainly see more projects paused, more construction halted, and more job opportunities disappear.”
March’s 10 new projects bring the overall number of major clean energy projects tracked by E2 to 390 across 42 states and Puerto Rico. Companies have said they plan to invest more than $133 billion in these projects and hire 122,000 permanent workers.
Since Congress passed federal clean energy tax credits in August 2022, 34 clean energy projects have been cancelled, downsized, or shut down altogether, wiping out more than 15,000 jobs and scrapping $10 billion in planned investment, according to E2 and Atlas Public Policy.
However, in just the first three months of 2025, after Trump started rolling back clean energy policies, 13 projects were scrapped or scaled back, totaling more than $5 billion. That includes Bosch pulling the plug on its $200 million hydrogen fuel cell plant in South Carolina and Freyr Battery canceling its $2.5 billion battery factory in Georgia.
Republican-led districts have reaped the biggest rewards from Biden’s clean energy tax credits, but they’re also taking the biggest hits under Trump. So far, more than $6 billion in projects and over 10,000 jobs have been wiped out in GOP districts alone.
And the stakes are high. Through March, Republican districts have claimed 62% of all clean energy project announcements, 71% of the jobs, and a staggering 83% of the total investment.
A full map and list of announcements can be seen on E2’s website here. E2 says it will incorporate cancellation data in the coming weeks.
Read more: FREYR kills plans to build a $2.6 billion battery factory in Georgia
To limit power outages and make your home more resilient, consider going solar with a battery storage system. In order to find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and you share your phone number with them.
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