AUSTIN – Many Texans are concerned as officials are preparing for winter weather across much of the state this week.
Gov. Greg Abbott has made repeated assurances the state’s power grid is ready.
ERCOT officials have said 99% of power plants have complied with newly implemented weatherization plans. ERCOT has not yet issued any calls for conservation ahead of this week’s winter weather, but a watch was posted on their website Monday morning.
A projection from ERCOT issued last Friday showed that electricity demand could be near record levels starting this Wednesday.
It shows demand is expected to hit nearly 73 gigawatts this Friday. Peak demand during last year’s winter storm was 77 gigawatts.
Gov. Abbott held a briefing and news conference Tuesday morning in Austin, where officials from ERCOT, along with multiple state agencies, joined the governor.
“We are utilizing every applicable state agency to make sure Texas will respond to this winter storm,” Abbott said.
He said TxDOT will deploy 4,000 personnel and have 24/7 crews that will respond to specific needs and shift resources as weather conditions shift. He also said crews will pretreat roads and have been since Sunday.
As for ERCOT, the governor said the time during the course of the winter storm, 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 right now, and that more people may lose power. Abbott said during any giving day, there are multiple reasons for outages that may have nothing to do with the grid, such as downed power lines, ice on powerlines, or downed trees.
Close to half of our state’s power comes from natural gas and is overseen by the Texas Railroad Commission, which does not anticipate any challenges or disruptions in the wake of mass inspections that were conducted starting in the Fall of last year.
“Inspectors have visited more than 4,000 facilities so far. About 98% of those facilities visited have been winterized,” said Commissioner Jim Wright, Texas Railroad Commission.
Lawmakers have said that communication has improved to make sure power providers don’t accidentally cut power to natural gas operations that are needed to keep the lights on.
To learn more about road conditions before heading out, Abbott said to visit http://drivetexas.org/.
Watch the full press conference below:
