Downtown Lake Charles gets power

A major milestone in the effort to restore Lake Charles was reached last night, when some lights in the downtown area blinked back to life. City Hall, court buildings and other downtown buildings able to take power have been restored.

This was made possible by the restoration of the Chlomal substation east of Lake Charles and the Ann and East Broad substations west of the city. These substations are part of a 69-kilovolt loop that encircles Lake Charles. The substations also serve public works, emergency and other governmental facilities. Crews continue to work on restoring other substations along the loop as well.

Crews were also successful in restoring the substation serving the RS CoGen plant southwest of the city.

The outlook for the Nelson Plant in Westlake continues to improve. The plant is currently generating approximately 135 megawatts. Crews continue to work on restoring a 500-kilovolt line that connects the Nelson Plant to Richard, a 500-kilovolt switching station north of Crowley.

The estimated restoration date has been moved up several days to Monday, October 3. The restoration of this line will help with load issues around the Lake Charles area.