As the New Orleans City Council prepares to take up a program to install backup batteries in hundreds of homes, businesses and community institutions, advocates of the initiative gathered Wednesday outside City Hall to emphasize the importance of the plan in a city that has been plagued in recent years by grid failures.
Dubbed the “Neighborhood Power Plan,” the $30 million program is set to create the nation’s largest virtual power plant, per capita, with a vastly expanded network of batteries in individual homes and business that kick on when the lights go out or the grid is strained.
“When we talk about reliable power, we are really talking about public health infrastructure,” said Jeanie Donovan, public health and policy director for the New Orleans Health Department…