‘Ready and reliable’: Texans assured power grid can handle coming cold despite 2021 failings
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he believes trust that was lost during the 2021 winter storm that crippled the state’s electric grid will be earned during this week’s arctic blast.
Arctic blast targets Texas just days before Christmas
FOX Weather's Will Nunley is in Dallas, Texas where they could have their coldest December temperature since 1989 as the arctic blast invades.
AUSTIN, Texas – Officials in Texas assured residents Wednesday that the state’s power grid is ready to handle the arctic blast that will overtake much of the country this week.
With people scurrying around the State Operations Center in the background, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference that officials from all levels of state and local government have been preparing for the coming cold that will plunge most of the state into a deep freeze by Friday morning.
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News of the extreme cold has some Texans nervous, recalling a 2021 winter storm that crippled the state’s power grid. Millions across the state were left without electricity for days as temperatures dropped to their lowest levels in a decade. More than 200 people died because of what some now call the Great Texas Freeze.
An investigation by federal energy regulators blamed the grid failure on frozen equipment at power plants and natural gas facilities. More than 20 power plants in Texas did not have any winterization plans despite standards recommending they do so, investigators found.
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Image 1 of 9Icicles hang off the State Highway 195 sign on Feb. 18, 2021, in Killeen, Texas. (Joe Raedle)
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Image 2 of 9A tree lays across a street in West Memphis, Arkansas, on Feb. 24, 2022, after a winter storm produed freezing rain in the region. (Arkansas Division of Emergency Management)
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Image 3 of 9FORT WORTH, TX - FEBRUARY 15: Traffic moves along Interstate 30 after a snow storm February 15, 2021 in Fort Worth, Texas. The Winter storm brought historic cold weather to Texas and storms have swept across 26 states with a mix of freezing temperatures and precipitation. (Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
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Image 4 of 9Pumpjacks operate in the snow in the Permian Basin in Midland, Texas, U.S, on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021. The arctic freeze gripping the central U.S. is raising the specter of power outages in Texas and ratcheting up pressure on energy prices already trading at unprecedented levels. Photographer: Matthew Busch/Bloomberg via Getty Images ( )
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Image 5 of 9Icicles on a home in McKinney, Texas, U.S., on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. The energy crisis crippling the U.S. showed few signs of abating Tuesday as blackouts left almost 5 million customers without electricity, while refineries and oil wells were shut during unprecedented freezing weather. Photographer: Cooper Neill/Bloomberg via Getty Images ( )
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Image 6 of 9A thin blanket of snow covers the ground in Houston, Texas, on Feb. 15, 2021. (Aaron Barker)
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Image 7 of 9AUSTIN, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 19: Vehicles drive along Congress Avenue that leads to the Texas Capitol building on February 19, 2021 in Austin, Texas. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Image 8 of 9Sleet pellets and a glaze of ice cover a car in Houston, Texas, on Feb. 14, 2021. (Aaron Barker)
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Image 9 of 9Sleet pellets and a glaze of ice cover a car in Houston, Texas, on Feb. 14, 2021. (Aaron Barker)
This time around, state leaders are relying on changes implemented after the storm to ensure the lights stay on. Peter Lake, chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas, said those regulations have led to more fuel in reserve and more power available than ever before.
"The grid is ready and reliable," Lake said.
Lake said power plants and power companies alike had rescheduled planned equipment and line maintenance so that everything is available to meet the expected demand.
Pablo Vegas, the new head of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, said demand will be highest from Thursday evening to Saturday morning.
"The highest demands during this period we expect are going to occur on Friday morning," Vegas said. "We expect that to hit near 70,000 megawatts. With all the available resources performing as planned, we’re forecasting to have near 85,000 megawatts of supply available to meet that demand."
While some wintry precipitation is expected across North Texas, winds associated with the cold front will likely pose a larger problem. They’ll remain steady out of the north near 30 mph through much of Friday and gust to near 45 mph at times. Officials said these winds could bring down trees and power lines and create localized outages unrelated to the grid's performance. Those outages will be handled by power companies as they happen, officials said.
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Abbott said he realizes there is a lack of trust in the state’s power grid after the 2021 storm, but he believes that the grid has performed well during extreme cold and heat since then.
"I think trust has to be earned, and we earned that trust, in part, by going through this past summer with 11 new all-time records for power demand and being able to meet that power demand with ease," Abbott said. "I think trust will be earned over the next few days as people see that we have ultra-cold temperatures, and the grid is going to be able to perform with ease."
Officials said that in addition to power plants securing a surplus of backup fuel, measures have also been taken to ensure natural gas pipelines do not freeze this time around.
The duration of this week’s arctic blast will be much shorter than the 2021 storm – nearly two days for most of the state during this event compared to nearly a week during last year’s event.