As the one-year anniversary approaches of the devastating winter storm that plunged millions of Texans into darkness, a power expert says, the state is in a much better position this year.
"A lot of people are spooked after what happened last year," says Tom Overbye, a power grid expert and professor of electrical and computer engineering at Texas A&M University. He also directs the Smart Grid Center.
"I think we're in much better shape this year," Overbye pointed out. "A major change is that the generators in the state are much better winterized. So I think even if we got the temperatures we got last year we wouldn't have nearly as many problems. Perhaps, no problems."
Admittedly, the coming cold snap in the state is not nearly as severe as the 100+ hours of freezing temperatures in mid-February 2021.
At the end of the storm, 246 people had died, and it caused almost $200 billion in damages.
"The grid was prepared for low temperatures, but just not these more extreme temperatures," Overbye said. "So a lot of the generators failed, either due to the cold or due to the cold affecting their natural gas fuel supply."
"That storm was very unusual, maybe we'll see something that bad every 30 to 40 years," Overbye says.
Overbye says that ERCOT, the state agency that oversees Texas' power grid, has inspected every generating plant (more than 320 in total), and they overwhelmingly met expectations.
"What ERCOT has said is that (winterization is) done, and they have passed, so I'm trusting the experts in winterization that the power plants in our state are in pretty good shape," Overbye said.
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