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News Release > Entergy Investing Over $500,000 for Infrastructure Upgrades in Hardy
Entergy Investing Over $500,000 for Infrastructure Upgrades in Hardy
07/28/2020
Entergy Arkansas customers in and near Riverbend Park in Hardy will soon experience improvements in the quality and reliability of their electric service.
“We routinely seek opportunities to enhance reliability for our customers,” said Matt Faries, Entergy Arkansas’ customer service manager for Northeast Arkansas. “The load requirement for the 265 customers in the Riverbend Park area has increased substantially in recent years. Our design engineers identified two and a half miles of circuit along a stretch of Highway 63 and Bluff Road in Hardy for equipment upgrades. We are investing approximately $511,000 to make these upgrades.”
Faries, who worked as a design engineer early in his Entergy career and manages Entergy’s most complex business relationships in nine counties, understands the challenges of high growth areas like Riverbend Park. Given the scope of the project, he called upon contract line crews to join the local Entergy employees to make the necessary improvements.
“After months of planning and engineering, work started on the project in early July and is expected to be completed in late August,” stated Robert Stallings, Entergy’s engineer for the area that includes Hardy. “Upgrades include the installation of dozens of new utility poles, reducing the length of spans to provide better reliability, replacing and upgrading the wire size, as well as upgrading the lines from single-phase and two-phase to three-phase power.”
“Safety is a core value at Entergy. This guides the action as crews work to decrease the frequency and duration of outages when they do occur,” said Chris Stone, Entergy line supervisor for the Walnut Ridge network. “Safely installing the 70- and 80-foot-tall poles to cross the new bypass and crossing the BNSF railroad tracks are unique challenges that require special equipment and extensive planning.”
“We listen to our customers and take action whether they live in Harrison or Hughes or Hardy,” said Faries. “The electrical system is a massive and complex machine requiring constant monitoring and frequent upgrades. Between 2019 and 2021, Entergy Arkansas plans on investing two billion dollars into improving the infrastructure that generates and delivers power to customers. In fact, every county in our service territory will see improvements over the next two-to-three years. We still operate on the foundation established by of our founder Harvey Couch – providing power to customers when they need it and where they need it, making their lives easier and growing the state by attracting investment and the jobs that go with that investment.”
Entergy Arkansas provides electricity to approximately 700,000 customers in 63 counties. Entergy Arkansas is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including 8,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.9 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of $11 billion and approximately 13,600 employees.
