ERCOT Says Texas Power Grid Is Ready; Concern Is Ice On Power Lines And Trees
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - As the winter storm rolls in to North Texas, residents are hoping the state's power grid holds up.
It's been one year since its failure led to mass power outages, more than 100 deaths and billions of dollars in damages.
Wednesday night, Feb. 2, ERCOT's interim CEO Brad Jones told CBS 11 they've been preparing for months and are ready.
"The stuff that we've done for the past year whether it's weatherizing our fleet, or the way we operate our grid which we do that in a much more conservative manner than we used to do before.. it really has put us in a solid position," he said.
ERCOT says demand could hit a peak of just under 72,000 megawatts this week, which would set a winter record.
However, there will still be an excess of 10,000 megawatts available.
"Friday morning at 8:00 a.m. that's when we're expected to have our highest load on the system," Jones said.
In the past 24 hours he has received notice of gas curtailments, but believes the impact will be minimal.
The loss of available reserves expected to be between 1,200 and 2,600 megawatts.
"At this point this is all we know about," Jones said.
Gas suppliers are not required to report these decisions, which Jones hopes through legislation will change in the future.
"I have talked about in the past for the need to create what we call a gas desk — this is something that I know exists in the northeast.. New England and New York," he said. "It's something we don't have in Texas. At present we're not given the information, but we're working with the Texas Energy Reliability Council to make sure that we can begin to get that information."
As North Texans prepare for what's coming, Jones says it's important to note even with the grid holding up, the chance of power outages is possible if ice accumulates on power lines.
"Really the trees are the problem," Oncor meteorologist Jen Myers said. "If there's just a 10th of an inch of ice on a tree it can weigh down those branches."
Oncor trims trees that could impact power lines year-round and will have crews scattered across the Metroplex this week, working around the clock to respond to incidents.
"I know the people at Oncor and we are passionate about getting that power turned back on," Myers said.
Out-of-state crews have arrived in North Texas to assist their crews.
In total, Oncor will have about 1,500 additional utility workers.
Oncor says it's important to report power outages right away. There are several ways to do it - phone, text, online.
Oncor contact information:
phone: 888-313-4747 — text "OUT" to 66267 — Oncor.com — MyOncor app
They also have a feature that estimates how long it's going to take for power to be restored to your area.
