Can Texas withstand another winter storm? Here’s what ERCOT said at Tarrant town hall
It was the first question asked at a North Texas-focused town hall with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas: “Do we have enough power to ensure the lights will stay on if we see another Winter Storm Uri?”
ERCOT Interim President and CEO Brad Jones answered with a definitive, “yes,” noting that there’s sufficient generation capacity.
It’s been nearly a year since the winter storm that swept through Texas in February 2021. The state estimates that more than 200 people died because of the storm, including 11 individuals in Tarrant County. Millions in Texas were left without powers, some for days.
Two Tarrant County lawmakers — Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, and Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake — joined Jones for the Tuesday virtual town hall. ERCOT, a nonprofit overseen by the Public Utility Commission, manages the flow of electricity to most of the state. Tarrant County Precinct 3 Commissioner Gary Fickes moderated.
The state’s legislative session was already underway during the winter storm. Hancock authored a bill during the regular session implementing reforms to ERCOT’s board of directors, including a requirement that members of its governing body be Texas residents. Lawmakers also passed a bill requiring weatherization for critical natural gas facilities and electricity generators and transmitters, among other provisions such as the creation of a power outage alert system.
“We literally redid the entire system, the way we managed it, the way the board was established, and so we’ve seen wholesale changes,” Hancock said.
Near the top of the conversation, Jones walked through what happened during the winter storm. He said 50,000 megawatts of generation were lost during the storm, most of which were due to forced outages.
Of more than 300 generating units and more than 20 transmission facilities have been inspected for weatherization since Dec. 2, three failed to meet expectations, Jones said.
“We just went through a cold weather spell just a few days ago,” he said. “In that we normally would have expected to see several units have freezing problems, issues with their generators. We had none, zero. And that’s showing up because of the work they’ve done to get us ready today.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has expressed confidence in the grid’s ability to withstand winter months after the changes, but questions as to whether the state will be ready if another storm hits have lingered. Energy experts have criticized lawmakers and the Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry, for not doing more to ready natural gas suppliers for winter, according to a previous Star-Telegram report.
At one point, officials were asked why Texans should be confident the electric grid is in better shape than it was in February. Jones said ERCOT is operating the grid in a more reliable way by bringing on more reserves in “various situations,” such as when they see cold fronts coming through, and pointed to weatherization efforts for generators.
“I think part of that confidence is all of the work that has been done,” Jones said. “That’s where you should get the confidence from, recognizing that so much has changed in the last year.“
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
