The head of the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the new CEO of ERCOT say the Texas power grid is ready for whatever the Texas winter may bring.
Public Utility Commission of Texas Chairman Peter Lake and the CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Pablo Vargas, gave a briefing Tuesday afternoon on the grid's readiness, saying they're better prepared than ever before to handle extreme weather.
Lake began the meeting with a reminder of the changes put in place since last winter and new weatherization requirements for electricity generators.
"We followed that by inspections of generators across the ERCOT grid. In addition, we've built out and mapped a critical supply chain and critical infrastructure network to make sure that the natural gas supply chain stays online at all times and ensures the gas continues to flow to our generators," Lake said. "And most importantly, we have dramatically increased and improved communication between the Railroad Commission, TXDOT, TDEM, TECQ, the PUC, and ERCOT."
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An October 2022 report by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said the grid should be able to meet demand under normal conditions, but that there were concerns about its ability to do that in extreme weather as we saw in February 2021.
That winter storm plunged millions of Texans into darkness when providers scrambled to keep the grid from collapsing.
After the 2021 storm, lawmakers passed new regulations forcing electricity providers to protect their equipment in extreme weather.
"Because of the changes that had been initiated by the legislature and the administration, and because of the actions taken by the PUCT and ERCOT over the last year and a half, we are in a position where the elements that are within our control related to the reliability and the operation of the grid are as strong as they've ever been going into this winter season," Vargas said.
One energy expert told NBC 5 that they heard a different message from the top leaders.
"The Chairman of the commission and the head of ERCOT are clearly nervous about reliability and our ability to keep the lights on going forward," said Alison Silverstein, an energy consultant.
Silverstein says the weatherization of power generators and better communication among state agencies is not enough to meet the demand of Texas' growing population.
"The problem is, they're willing to work on the more supply and they're being way too slow working on the less demand," Silverstein said.
She pointed to the need for energy-efficient building codes and subsidies for Texans to make their existing homes more efficient, which would lower overall demand.
"How much will we be seeing Involuntary conservation because people are terrified to pay their electric bills?" she asked.
SEASONAL ASSESSMENT OF RESOURCE ADEQUACY
NBC 5 Investigates looked into what caused the massive power outages during the 2021 storm and revealed possible solutions in a streaming series called "Powerless" available here.
NBC 5's Katy Blakey contributed to this report.
