HOUSTON – After weeks of scrutiny and calls for accountability over its response to Hurricane Beryl, CenterPoint Energy says it’s done talking and is beginning to start putting its words into action.
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In an announcement Monday, CenterPoint says it will be launching a new initiative focused on a series of immediate actions to improve resiliency and reduce the risk of outages from the next major storm or hurricane.
Titled the Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative, the energy giant claims to reflect direct feedback from Governor Greg Abbott including an accelerated timeline to bring out specific actions to strengthen the city’s electric infrastructure as well as the grid and improve communication and emergency coordination.
“We have heard the calls for change, and we are taking action now,” CenterPoint President and CEO Jason Wells said in a statement. “This first phase of our Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative will focus on a series of targeted actions to immediately strengthen our infrastructure across our communities. We know have a lot of work to do to re-earn our customers’ trust. This initiative reflects our commitment to become [the] most resilient coastal utility in the country.”
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How will it look?
CenterPoint says it will have its more than 2,500 frontline workers and contractors taking a series of targeted actions to strengthen the grid and reduce risks of future outages by doing the following:
- Installing stronger and more storm-resilient poles: CenterPoint will be replacing approximately 1,000 wooden poles by August 31 with stronger fiberglass poles that can withstand winds up to 132 MPH.
- Trimming or removing vegetation from our lines: CenterPoint has doubled its vegetation management workforce in order to remove higher-risk vegetation near power lines by August 31.
- Installing automated devices: CenterPoint will install approximately 300 automated devices, known as trip savers. These devices mean that fewer customers experience outages, and quicker restoration times for those who do. The devices automatically re-energize the line in certain outages, to help keep the power on for customers.
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How will CenterPoint meet its promised timeline?
CenterPoint has a complete game plan which was shared in its press release highlighting its priorities. Some of these actions have already been taken such as using state-of-the-art predictive modeling and AI technology to find higher-risk vegetation across its system.
By August 31, CenterPoint claims 100% of that vegetation from the 2,000 incremental distribution lines will be removed.
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As for how it will be better prepared for the next major storm, CenterPoint’s gameplan says by August 31, or 5 days before the next tropical storm hits its service area, “whichever occurs first, we will implement changes to our restoration process to accelerate dispatch of vegetation crews as soon as safely practicable after a storm based on damage modeling.”
“We share the Governor’s urgency around hurricane preparedness and increased resiliency of the grid and are committed to completing these critical actions on an accelerated timeline,” Wells concluded. “The actions we are taking this month are just the beginning. We want to exceed the Governor’s and our customers’ expectations and improve in every aspect of our emergency response – before, during, and after any future storm or hurricane.”
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You can see CenterPoint’s gameplan by clicking here or looking at the document below: