AUSTIN, Texas – Officials in Texas assured residents Wednesday that the state’s power grid is ready to handle the arctic blast that will overtake much of the country this week.
With people scurrying around the State Operations Center in the background, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference that officials from all levels of state and local government have been preparing for the coming cold that will plunge most of the state into a deep freeze by Friday morning.
HOW TO PREVENT PIPES FROM FREEZING IN BITTERLY COLD TEMPERATURES
News of the extreme cold has some Texans nervous, recalling a 2021 winter storm that crippled the state’s power grid. Millions across the state were left without electricity for days as temperatures dropped to their lowest levels in a decade. More than 200 people died because of what some now call the Great Texas Freeze.
An investigation by federal energy regulators blamed the grid failure on frozen equipment at power plants and natural gas facilities. More than 20 power plants in Texas did not have any winterization plans despite standards recommending they do so, investigators found.
WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO LIVE IN WORK IN HOUSTON DURING THE GREAT TEXAS FREEZE
This time around, state leaders are relying on changes implemented after the storm to ensure the lights stay on. Peter Lake, chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, said those regulations have led to more fuel in reserve and more power available than ever before.
“The grid is ready and reliable,” Lake said.
Lake said power plants and power companies alike had rescheduled planned equipment and line maintenance so that everything is available to meet the expected demand.
Pablo Vegas, the new head of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, said demand will be highest from Thursday evening to Saturday morning.
“The highest demands during this period we expect are going to occur on Friday morning,” Vegas said. “We expect that to hit near 70,000 megawatts. With all the available resources performing as planned, we’re forecasting to have near 85,000 megawatts of supply available to meet that demand.”
While some wintry precipitation is expected across North Texas, winds associated with the cold front will likely pose a larger problem. They’ll remain steady out of the north near 30 mph through much of Friday and gust to near 45 mph at times. Officials said these winds could bring down trees and power lines and create localized outages unrelated to the grid’s performance. Those outages will be handled by power companies as they happen, officials said.
HERE’S HOW LONG IT’LL TAKE YOU TO GET FROSTBITE AS WIND CHILLS DIP BELOW ZERO
Abbott said he realizes there is a lack of trust in the state’s power grid after the 2021 storm, but he believes that the grid has performed well during extreme cold and heat since then.
“I think trust has to be earned, and we earned that trust, in part, by going through this past summer with 11 new all-time records for power demand and being able to meet that power demand with ease,” Abbott said. “I think trust will be earned over the next few days as people see that we have ultra-cold temperatures, and the grid is going to be able to perform with ease.”
Officials said that in addition to power plants securing a surplus of backup fuel, measures have also been taken to ensure natural gas pipelines do not freeze this time around.
The duration of this week’s arctic blast will be much shorter than the 2021 storm – nearly two days for most of the state during this event compared to nearly a week during last year’s event.