Texas Gov. Greg Abbott received a briefing and held a press conference Tuesday, at the Alternate State Operations Center ahead of severe winter weather expected to impact the state of Texas this week.
With the next winter storm quickly approaching, one big concern has been the reliability of the Texas power grid. Following the February 2021 winter storm that crippled the grid and left hundreds of thousands of people in the cold and dark for days, Texas officials have been busy getting systems ready for the next major test.
"The time during the course of this winter storm, when we are expecting the highest demand for power from the power grid is going to be on Friday morning. Today, right now, ERCOT says they will have an excess 15000 megawats of power available even at the time of highest demand" said Governor Abbott regarding the Texas power grid. "So ERCOT is well prepared for conditions as they currently stand but remains flexable in order to be responsive to power demand needs."
The governor said that even with most systems being stable this time around, that doesn't mean there won't be isolated outages due to ice on the power lines or surrounding trees.
"That doesn't mean there are challenges with the power grid in the state of Texas, it means for a short period of time a particular neighborhood may be without power, but know that your local power company that you have contracted with is working to make sure that power will be restored quickly" said Abbott.
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In mid January, ERCOT announced 321 of 324 electric generation units and transmission facilities in Texas fully passed inspection for new winterization regulations set forth by the Public Utilities Commission of Texas.
By midday Wednesday, reports say a strong Arctic cold front is expected to move through the North Texas area. Widespread chilly rain will break out as temperatures tumble to near freezing. The National Weather Service issued a Winter Storm Watch for most of North Texas that will run from 6 p.m. Wednesday to 6 p.m. Thursday.
A transition to freezing rain will slowly take place from northwest to southeast through Wednesday evening (6 p.m. - midnight) in Fort Worth and then Dallas. Dangerous accumulations of ice could occur.
The governor was joined by representatives from the Texas Division of Emergency Management, ERCOT, Public Utility Commission of Texas, Railroad Commission of Texas, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Military Department, Texas A&M Forest Service, Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Texas Department of Transportation, Texas Department of State Health Services, and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.
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