TAYLOR, Texas —
It may not feel like winter yet, but the power grid operator for Texas is prepared for the season.
KVUE sat down with the CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, to discuss its winter outlook and more. Pablo Vegas said the agency is ready for what's ahead.
Since the deadly winter storm in 2021, Vegas said there have been a lot of changes.
In February of that year, millions of Texans lost power after the storm dumped record amounts of snow, killing at least 246 people, according to the state. The storm also caused $195 billion in damage, making it the costliest natural disaster in state history.
According to the The University of Texas at Austin Energy Institute's 2022 report, which listed factors to the blackouts in the deadly winter storm, "all types of generation technologies failed. All types of power plants were impacted by the winter storm. Certain power plants within each category of technologies (natural gas-fired power plants, coal power plants, nuclear reactors, wind generation, and solar generation facilities) failed to operate at their expected electricity generation output levels."
The report also pointed out, "Failures within the natural gas system exacerbated electricity problems. Natural gas production, storage, and distribution facilities failed to provide the full amount of fuel demanded by natural gas power plants. Failures included direct freezing of natural gas equipment and failing to inform their electric utilities of critical electrically-driven components."
After the 2021 storm, new weatherization rules require electric generation and transmission owners to protect equipment prone to freezing. ERCOT has made nearly 3,000 inspections since winter of 2021.
Vegas also said he doesn't expect calls for conservation or rolling blackouts this year. One reason is the power grid manager has seen a significant amount of power generation coming onto the grid.
“Just since March of this year, we've seen over 10,000 megawatts of new power generation come onto the grid. The majority of that has been in solar power, over 6,000 megawatts of new solar. We've seen over 3,000 megawatts of new battery storage,” Vegas said.
One megawatt powers about 250 homes in Texas, according to ERCOT.
Winter inspections are expected to start in December and wrap up in February.
Vegas also discussed how the agency is addressing Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order to protect critical infrastructure from cyberattacks. Vegas said ERCOT sees thousands of cyberattacks every year but has been successful in stopping them.
He also said the agency stays on top of things by updating technology and hiring hackers every year to try to break into the power grid, checking for weaknesses. There is also an annual exercise that simulates cyberattacks where ERCOT practices how to respond to different scenarios.
Vegas said Abbott’s executive order last week, which calls for state agencies to protect critical infrastructure from the Chinese government, expands on this annual exercise to include more agencies.
“The best thing you can do to prepare for a real-life series event is to practice and to practice as close to reality as possible. And that's something that we have a lot of experience doing, and we look forward to doing that with the state of Texas,” Vegas said.
The governor also ordered ERCOT to create a secure communications channel for telecommunication and electrical infrastructure companies for use during a critical grid incident.
"If there were to be an event where there was a loss of power, he wants to make sure that the telecommunications industry, the gas, the gas industry, the electric industry all have access to communications channels that can continue to be used during the event of a power outage so that we can very quickly look to restore power, restore communications and restore critical infrastructure," Vegas said.
Vegas said ERCOT is thinking about the grid every day so this holiday season, you don't have to.
Vegas also said Texans can get ERCOT updates by signing up for Texas Advisory and Notification System, or TXANS, notifications.