Texas electric grid will withstand ‘ultra cold temperatures,’ Governor Greg Abbott says

Texas officials are confident that power will stay on as frigid temperatures sweep through the state.

Gov. Greg Abbott and other state officials on Friday warned of “ultra cold temperatures” and urged Texans to take precautions, but said the state’s electric grid will be able to stand up to the winter weather.

Temperatures across North Texas are expected to fall below freezing overnight Saturday and are likely to stay until Wednesday afternoon, according to the the National Weather Service. The low Sunday night into Monday morning is expected to be around 10 degrees in Dallas-Fort Worth.

“We believe that the power grid, ERCOT, is going to be able to ensure that power is available through the entirety of this winter storm,” Abbott said during a news conference at the State Operations Center in Austin.

As of Friday afternoon, the supply and demand of electricity is projected to be the tightest Tuesday morning and evening into the night.

The weather is expected to affect power grids across the nation, said Electric Reliability Council of Texas President and CEO Pablo Vegas

“We’re going to be coordinating very closely across the industry to make sure that we work together to support each other as the coldest periods occur, and this includes areas across Texas that are not covered by the power grid,” Vegas said.

Most of the state falls under the purview of ERCOT, which manages the flow of electricity across Texas, but some areas of East Texas, the Panhandle and West Texas are not part of the ERCOT grid.

ERCOT isn’t calling for energy conservation as of Friday morning, Vegas said. ERCOT has issued a winter weather watch for Monday through Wednesday.

“I want to let you know and reassure you that we are using every tool in our toolbox make sure that the grid is going to be absolutely ready and prepared to deliver energy to all of Texas throughout this weather event,” Vegas said. “The grid is better prepared than it has ever been before, in particular as it relates to cold weather events like this that is approaching.”

There is a possibility that local outages could be caused by ice on power lines or high winds. Vegas said. Responding to those is the responsibility of local utility companies, he said.

Texans in need of a warm place to stay should visit tdem.texas.gov/warm to find warming centers in the state, said Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management.

Texans should also check emergency supplies to make sure they have things like bottled water and food at their homes, he said.

“We believe that everything is going to go smoothly from a power generation and distribution side, but one person in a car wreck can take out a power pole that takes out a power line, and in these cold conditions, to be below freezing for so many hours, to get that power back on at the local level could take a lot longer than any of us want,” Kidd said. “So what we want you to do is make sure that Texans are prepared.”

The winter weather expected in coming days is different from the deadly February 2021 winter storm that left millions without power in two ways, Abbott said. This event will not last as long, he said. Additionally, during the 2021 storm, there were times when most if not all of the state was under cloud cover, which “made it more difficult for all of the power fleet to be operational,” he said.

“This will be one of the coldest episodes they have lived through in the state of Texas,” Abbott said. “It will last for several days, but it will not be anything close to what we experienced during Winter Storm Uri.”