Climate Change and Sustainability Committee Meeting

The New Orleans City Council Climate Change and Sustainability Committee met on August 27, 2026, to discuss updates and resolutions related to the city's integrated resource plan (IRP) and recent widespread power outages caused by severe thunderstorms. The committee approved resolutions to modernize the IRP rules to better incorporate distributed energy resources and to initiate the 2027 IRP process emphasizing transparency, reliability, and resilience. Energy New Orleans provided a detailed report on the August 21-22 outages affecting approximately 14,600 customers, including restoration efforts, communication challenges, and grid hardening initiatives. Council members and the public raised concerns about outage communication failures, compensation for prolonged outages, vegetation management near power lines, and the need for continued investment in grid resilience. Energy New Orleans committed to replacing damaged infrastructure with resilient equipment and improving outage notification systems. No specific contract awards or procurement actions were reported, but discussions highlighted the importance of ongoing capital investments in grid hardening and reliability projects.