HOUSTON – A watch has been issued for the Texas area for an extreme cold weather event with possible icing conditions as an arctic cold front blasts through Wednesday night, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
READ: Wednesday Night Arctic Cold Front
The watch will start on Wednesday evening, continuing through Sunday.
During Tuesday’s press conference on Texas preparations for the winter weather, Gov. Gregg Abbott said Friday will be the highest demand for the power grid.
“ERCOT will have an excess 15,000 megawatts of power available, even at the time of highest demand,” Abbott said. “ERCOT is well prepared for conditions as they currently stand but remains flexible in order to respond to power and demand needs.”
Currently, the governor said there are at least 5,000 Texans without power, and more people may lose power for many reasons, including downed power lines, ice on powerlines or downed trees.
Abbott has made repeated assurances the state’s power grid is ready.
“We are utilizing every applicable state agency to make sure Texas will respond to this winter storm,” he said.
Over the past year, the grid has come into question since February’s winter storm in 2021 where millions of Texans were left without electricity. ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission have ensured all areas have been improved since then.
In December, ERCOT inspected more than 300 electric generation units throughout the state, representing 85% of the megawatt-hours lost during last February’s winter freeze.
They said the units inspected have exceeded PUC winterization requirements, while only 10 needed improvement.
Twenty-two of ERCOT’s transmission station facilities were also inspected, six of which had potential minor errors such as weather stripping and cabinet heaters that were addressed immediately.