HOUSTON – CenterPoint Energy has announced that it has moved to the next phase of its Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative.
In August, the energy company launched 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. The plan was a direct feedback from Gov. Greg Abbott following the deadly power outage from Hurricane Beryl. It includes 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.
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The new actions of the next phase includes strengthening the energy system and operations over the next eight months and before the start of the 2025 hurricane season.
The actions in GHRI Phase Two will help enable a self-healing grid, reduce the length and frequency of outages and lead to more than 125 million fewer outage minutes annually for customers in the Greater Houston area.
Work to be completed before the 2025 hurricane season, or June 1, 2025:
- Installing new or replacing 25,000 poles that meet extreme wind standards
- Trimming or removing higher-risk vegetation across 4,000 miles of power lines
- Installing 4,500 automation devices, known as trip savers, and 350 Intelligent Grid Switching Devices as part of our effort to build a self-healing grid that utilizes automation to respond to outages faster
- Undergrounding more than 400 miles of power lines
- Launching a year-round public emergency preparedness and safety communications campaign
- Strengthening our local partnerships with agencies and partners critical to our emergency response efforts
“We know how important reliable and resilient energy is to our 2.8 million customers and that the Greater Houston region is the economic engine for the State of Texas and the energy capital of the world. That is why we are so focused on modernizing our infrastructure as we work toward our goal of building the most resilient coastal grid in the country that will serve the energy needs of Houstonians for years to come,” said Jason Wells, President and CEO of CenterPoint.
CenterPoint customers can track its progress towards completing all of its GHRI commitments at www.CenterPointEnergy.com/TakingAction.
As part of its long-term plan, CenterPoint said it will also propose investing at least $5 billion from 2026 to 2028, the largest investment in Greater Houston infrastructure in the company’s nearly 160-year history. At least $5 billion is part of CenterPoint’s new capital investment plan that includes more than $21 billion in total capital investment in its Texas electric and gas systems from 2025 through 2030, exceeding its current plan.