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    Boston dockworkers among thousands on strike nationwide 

    High tariffs, immigration crackdown, funding cuts: BU professor warns of ‘Trump Trifecta’ 

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Madeleine Dean demand food and beverage CEOs put a stop to ‘shrinkflation’ 

    Mass. leaders worried for seniors and kids as Trump agenda bill clears House 

    What Is ‘Big Law?’ 

    Stop Making Cents: US Mint Moves Forward With Plans to Kill the Penny 

    How to Attract (and Keep!) the Best Gen Z Employees 

    How to Attract (and Keep!) the Best Gen Z Employees 

    How Retailers Can Capitalize on the “Refund Effect”

    Could the GPT Store Turn ChatGPT into a Platform Powerhouse? 

    The Right Amount of Cards, Cash and ID to Carry in Your Wallet

    The ‘Best and Final’ Job Offer Usually Isn’t Final. How You Can Negotiate 

    Bank Failures Show Us What Not to Do with Our Own Finances

    Bank Failures Show Us What Not to Do with Our Own Finances

    In a ‘work-from-anywhere’ world, where are people working?

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    Boston dockworkers among thousands on strike nationwide 

    High tariffs, immigration crackdown, funding cuts: BU professor warns of ‘Trump Trifecta’ 

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Madeleine Dean demand food and beverage CEOs put a stop to ‘shrinkflation’ 

    Mass. leaders worried for seniors and kids as Trump agenda bill clears House 

    What Is ‘Big Law?’ 

    Stop Making Cents: US Mint Moves Forward With Plans to Kill the Penny 

    How to Attract (and Keep!) the Best Gen Z Employees 

    How to Attract (and Keep!) the Best Gen Z Employees 

    How Retailers Can Capitalize on the “Refund Effect”

    Could the GPT Store Turn ChatGPT into a Platform Powerhouse? 

    The Right Amount of Cards, Cash and ID to Carry in Your Wallet

    The ‘Best and Final’ Job Offer Usually Isn’t Final. How You Can Negotiate 

    From Hollywood to the Hardware Store: The Real-World Impact of a 100% Tariff 

    From Hollywood to the Hardware Store: The Real-World Impact of a 100% Tariff 

    Bank Failures Show Us What Not to Do with Our Own Finances

    Bank Failures Show Us What Not to Do with Our Own Finances

  • Videos & Podcast
    • All
    • Podcast
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    S1:E1 CVS Paying the “Pink Tax” on Certain Products and the Evolution of the Electric Vehicle Industry

    Tariffs and Their Economic Impact

    S1:E1 CVS Paying the “Pink Tax” on Certain Products and the Evolution of the Electric Vehicle Industry

    Navigating Internet Privacy: Unpacking Cookies, Dark Patterns, and Future Data Protection Challenges (2)

    Beyond Prototypes: Rethinking Innovation in Complex Ecosystems with Prof. Douglas Hannah

    Beyond Prototypes: Rethinking Innovation in Complex Ecosystems with Prof. Douglas Hannah

    Is Business Broken? Season 2 out now! 

    Is Business Broken? Season 2 out now! 

    S1:E1 CVS Paying the “Pink Tax” on Certain Products and the Evolution of the Electric Vehicle Industry

    Redefining Retirement: Navigating Emotional and Social Transitions with Insightful Strategies

    Life After Cookies: Who Uses Google’s Privacy Sandbox? – Garrett Johnson

    Life After Cookies: Who Uses Google’s Privacy Sandbox? – Garrett Johnson

    S1:E1 CVS Paying the “Pink Tax” on Certain Products and the Evolution of the Electric Vehicle Industry

    Real Estate Ripples from a Landmark Settlement

    S1:E1 CVS Paying the “Pink Tax” on Certain Products and the Evolution of the Electric Vehicle Industry

    The Hidden Wisdom of Cultural Pushback

    S1:E1 CVS Paying the “Pink Tax” on Certain Products and the Evolution of the Electric Vehicle Industry

    Fusion Strategy: Navigating the Industrial Evolution

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    Boston dockworkers among thousands on strike nationwide 

    High tariffs, immigration crackdown, funding cuts: BU professor warns of ‘Trump Trifecta’ 

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Madeleine Dean demand food and beverage CEOs put a stop to ‘shrinkflation’ 

    Mass. leaders worried for seniors and kids as Trump agenda bill clears House 

    What Is ‘Big Law?’ 

    Stop Making Cents: US Mint Moves Forward With Plans to Kill the Penny 

    How to Attract (and Keep!) the Best Gen Z Employees 

    How to Attract (and Keep!) the Best Gen Z Employees 

    How Retailers Can Capitalize on the “Refund Effect”

    Could the GPT Store Turn ChatGPT into a Platform Powerhouse? 

    The Right Amount of Cards, Cash and ID to Carry in Your Wallet

    The ‘Best and Final’ Job Offer Usually Isn’t Final. How You Can Negotiate 

    Bank Failures Show Us What Not to Do with Our Own Finances

    Bank Failures Show Us What Not to Do with Our Own Finances

    In a ‘work-from-anywhere’ world, where are people working?

    79,000 lost jobs. $13 billion in GDP gone. Study tallies potential hit to Mass. from Trump’s ‘economic attack.’

    The Hidden Risk of Getting Paid in Stock Options 

    Trump Administration Cancels Scores of Grants to Study Online Misinformation 

  • Publications
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    • Harvard Business Review
    • Journals
    • Sloan Management Review
    How Retailers Can Capitalize on the “Refund Effect”

    Could the GPT Store Turn ChatGPT into a Platform Powerhouse? 

    How Retailers Can Capitalize on the “Refund Effect”

    How to Monetize Volunteer-Driven Platforms 

    How Retailers Can Capitalize on the “Refund Effect”

    Leading Global Teams Effectively 

    How Retailers Can Capitalize on the “Refund Effect”

    Research: When Prototypes Don’t Yield Useful Insights 

    Transforming Products into Platforms: Unearthing New Avenues for Business Innovation

    Transforming Products into Platforms: Unearthing New Avenues for Business Innovation

    How Retailers Can Capitalize on the “Refund Effect”

    We’re Still Lonely at Work

    How Retailers Can Capitalize on the “Refund Effect”

    17 Team-Building Activities for In-Person, Remote, and Hybrid Teams

    3 Ways to Support Employees with Bipolar Disorder

    3 Ways to Support Employees with Bipolar Disorder

    Will That Marketplace Succeed?

    Will That Marketplace Succeed?

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Home Our Insights Business Challenges Social Impact

Entergy New Orleans’ Failure to Protect its Power Grid and Customers Against Outages Following Hurricane Ida

Z. Justin RenbyZ. Justin Ren
November 5, 2021
in Social Impact
17
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Entergy New Orleans’ Failure to Protect its Power Grid and Customers Against Outages Following Hurricane Ida

Entergy Electric Staging Area for electrical workers from across the country in Hammond, LA

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The impact of extreme weather events on infrastructure has grown increasingly relevant in recent years, driven by a surge in meteorological anomalies due to climate change. In this Insights@Questrom Q&A, Justin Ren, Associate Professor, Operations and Technology Management explains what the damage caused by Hurricane Ida reveals about the interplay between catastrophic hurricanes and the U.S. power grid.

What did Hurricane Ida expose about Entergy New Orleans (ENO) and its failure to restore power to its customers?

What Ida exposed was not unique to ENO, but common to almost all utilities in the US.  That is, in the event of an extreme natural disaster, how do utilities prepare before the event and restore after the event? As we know, with climate change such extreme climate events are happening more often.

How will the government react to this failure?

I have read reports that the city government of New Orleans is investigating the root causes of ENO’s failure, which is probably the right thing to do. But more importantly, in the longer term, the one major thing the government can do is to fund and build new and better power infrastructure. As a private company, ENO is primarily responsible for its shareholders. Therefore it lacks the incentives and resources to completely overhaul its system, which may cost tens of billions of dollars. This is where the government can come in and take up those big projects. 

What lessons might other energy companies learn as a result?

Because of climate change, we should expect to see more extreme and more frequent weather events such as hurricanes, heat waves and wildfires. Therefore, energy companies need to rethink, from a fundamental level, how to generate and transmit energy in a safe, clean and climate-resistant way. Let me give you a couple of examples. One, Pacific Gas & Electric, one of the largest utilities in the US, recently announced that they are going to bury 10,000 miles of its power lines so they do not spark wildfires in already drought-stricken regions in California. The other one is in the South, where Tampa Bay’s utility in Florida has been upgrading its distribution system by installing cement poles that can withstand Category 5 hurricane winds.

How can companies better prepare for big storms in the future?

Great question! Companies need to build up their resilience in their own capabilities as well as their own supply chains to better weather these disruptions. There are many strategies companies can pursue depending on their industries. For example, having multiple suppliers in different geographical regions can spread out risks. Some companies can perhaps shorten their supply chains by seeking local suppliers which reduces supply chain disruption risks caused by weather events.  

Digital technology can also play an important role. By incorporating better forecasting (with AI algorithms, for example) into companies’ resource planning software, companies can dynamically adjust their procurement and inventory placement. For example, a retailer may start stocking up water and essential supplies and reduce inventories in other categories in anticipation of a storm.

Also, particular to energy supply, companies can invest in “microgrids” that can isolate themselves from the big grid when there is a disruption of power and sustain themselves with their own power supply. During normal times, microgrids can generate electricity from renewable sources and supply clean energy back to the large grid. To give you a success example, when Hurricane Sandy hit the Mid-Atlantic in 2012, much of the New York City metro area lost power and forced several hospitals to evacuate.  But Long Island’s South Oaks Hospital kept its light on because it had installed its own microgrid earlier on. Now many more organizations are implementing such solutions. 

Finally, it is important to realize that such big storms are part of the ongoing global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions. Knowing that, companies can do a variety of things to reduce their own carbon emissions. In the longer term, companies must collectively do so in order to reverse the global warming trend that causes the increasing occurrences of those storms. Companies can start by doing an audit on their carbon footprint, and assessing how and where they can reduce their emissions in the most cost-effective manner.  

Tags: EnergyfeaturedJustin Ren
Z. Justin Ren

Z. Justin Ren

Justin Ren is an Associate Professor of Operations and Technology Management at Boston University Questrom School of Business.

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