JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – Entergy Mississippi launched a project in 2022 to replace existing wooden transmission structures with steel or concrete poles. Their goal is to replace all wooden poles in 12 to 15 years.

So far, more than 1,000 aged wood structures have been replaced, according to Entergy Mississippi officials.

“Our customers and communities depend on us to deliver reliable service,” said Shawn Corkran, vice president of reliability, Entergy Mississippi. “We study and invest in modernizing and strengthening our grid to ensure our customers have the power they need when they need it. This involves not just replacing aging infrastructure, but also updating our equipment with materials that improve our resiliency.”

Corkran said the company has identified wooden transmission in need of replacement across the state.

“With these upgraded structures, we can provide a more hardened, reliable system for our customers and reduce the length of outages caused by transmission wood pole failures,” Corkran said.

Additional crews were brought on the system for the execution of the work to replace the structures holding the lines. These additional crews will also be available to help restore damaged transmission lines, improving the restoration times during unplanned outages or outages that may occur during storms.