Julia Reihs / KUT
The control room at the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. ERCOT manages the flow of electric power to more than 26 million Texans.
As a cool front enters Texas this weekend — with temperatures forecast to hit the 30s in some of the Houston area — the Electric Reliability Council of Texas says the state’s grid is ready to meet demand this winter.
“The ERCOT grid is operating under normal conditions, and ERCOT will continue to monitor conditions through next week,” the council said in a statement.
It’s been nearly five years since Winter Storm Uri swept through the state, leaving millions of Texans without power — or heat.
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Since then, the grid has undergone improvements to make it more reliable, said Matt Boms, the executive director for the Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance.
“There have been a ton of weatherization measures in place, ongoing inspections and ERCOT has much better visibility into the readiness of all of our different generators across the state,” he said.
Boms said the state has also expanded its use of wind and solar power, along with battery storage.
“They’ve been a really important addition to our grid and have kept the grid way more reliable and more affordable for millions of Texans,” he said.
Texas’ real-time grid conditions can be found on ERCOT’s website.
CenterPoint, the utility provider for much of the Houston region, said it also has a cold-weather plan to respond to winter conditions.
“CenterPoint Energy continues to closely monitor forecast developments and will adjust our response plans as conditions evolve,” the company said in a statement.