How prepared is the state’s power grid to handle extreme weather?
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the state power grid, met Monday to discuss weatherization efforts.
Over the past 18 months, ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission, which regulates electricity infrastructure, are working to reform the state power grid and increase reliability.
ERCOT and PUC officials said they have set up seven scenarios for the winter, and try to prepare to handle those scenarios. The worst scenario, which is close to what the 2021 Storm gave Texas, could still be trouble if the right things go wrong.
“We have more outages here in this scenario and then low wind which would correlate so we are doing it similarly we are trying to set up the same conditions but we do want to reflect the reality of the weatherization work that’s in there now,” said Robert Flexon, an ERCOT board member.
ERCOT claims they’ve made tangible improvements since the big storm, including the ability to bring on more generation more quickly and better weatherization of transmission facilities.
Officials said they have inspected or are currently over looking 500 units of their energy resources. ERCOT officials said they are working on each power source they have to make sure they will handle any extreme condition.
In a Dec. 16 release, ERCOT listed these steps its taken toward that goal.
Improvements Implemented that Make the Grid More Reliable:
- Weatherization and Inspections. Electric generation units and transmission facilities weatherize and are inspected by ERCOT.
- Firm Fuel Supply Service. An additional source of fuel onsite for generators benefits the grid by providing a redundant, or additional, fuel source should there be a natural gas scarcity.
- Scheduled Maintenance Period. ERCOT has worked with generators and transmission operators to schedule their maintenance so they could prepare their equipment for winter.
- Fast Frequency Response Service. This is a new addition to our ancillary services that provides a group of generators that can power up quickly during operating conditions that change rapidly.
- Reliability Unit Commitments. ERCOT can bring more generation online sooner when needed.
- Critical Supply Chain and Critical Infrastructure Map. This map was created to share the locations and connectivity of all the critical parts of the Texas power infrastructure.
- Improved Communications. Agencies are seeing improved communications through both the Texas Department of Emergency Management and Texas Energy Reliability Council.
ERCOT officials also presented another plan by adding more backup power to cities and rural areas.