Texas Energy Officials Guarantee That The Texas Electric Grid is Ready
With cold weather just starting to show up in West Texas, and with the north Texas panhandle beginning to see its coldest weather for this winter season. State energy officials guarantee that the power grid is 85% prepared and ready for any winter storm to come.
One question comes to mind. How strong are the Texas power grids after nine months of talking, planning, and preparing? Will we Texans be able to survive another snowpocalypse?
Chairman of the Public Utility Commission (PUC) Peter Lake and Governor Greg Abbott have held meetings with Texas energy providers and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas aka ERCOT to address the reliability of the Texas Power Grid.
Peter Lake, Chairman Of The PUC Says Texas Is Ready
The PUC just announced that it had completed on-site inspections at more than 300 electric generation units in Texas, which accounts for over 80% of the megawatt-hours that were lost during last February's winter storm.
According to Chairman Lake “The lights are going to stay on this winter,” repeating the same exact remarks made by the Texas Governor when Abbott told Austin’s Fox News that he “can guarantee the lights will stay on.” The governor held a press conference to give Texans confidence on the power grid.”
Governor Abbott And The PUC Guarantee The Power Grid Is Ready
ERCOT inspected over 300 grid units for winterization recently and 22 transmission facilities and found that six had "identified deficiencies that needed updating," of which all 6 were fined on the day of the inspection. The winterization requirement, which can include a penalty of up to $1 million per day, per violation. Since then, ERCOT said this past Thursday that many of those corrections have been made.
Lake and the ERCOT CEO Brad Jones touted Texas' generator and natural gas supply and its winterization efforts over the last few months, stating that "the grid is stronger and more reliable than ever" and that "No other power grid has made as remarkable changes in such an incredibly short amount of time."
When will the ENTIRE Texas power grid be completed and ready? Gov. Abbot and PUC Chairman Peter Lake will have the 'final' report on January 18th.