Texas power generators must submit report on winter plans today

Charly Edsitty Image
Friday, December 3, 2021
Texas weatherization due 9 months after deadly winter storm
With the Texas governor guaranteeing no repeats of the winter storm disaster, the state's power operators were given a deadline to weatherize their systems.

Today is the deadline for Texas power companies to explain what they have done to prevent another disaster like last February's winter storm and power grid failure.

According to Texas health officials, 210 people died during the freeze between Feb. 11 and March 5 when thousands of households were without power across the state.

Power companies must submit reports outlining how they plan to continue operating during the upcoming winter months.

The reports should be submitted Wednesday to the Texas utility regulators, and are required to include information like the exact temperatures at which the power plants can continue operating, and also any training information provided about cold weather preparations.

RELATED: Texas grid vulnerable to blackouts during severe weather, even with new preparations, ERCOT says

In addition to the report, companies are also required to fix any acute issues that happened during the winter freeze.

ABC13 spoke to the CEO of Energy Ogre, who says these companies have been forced to do a lot of improvements to their systems since the freeze. In his opinion, he thinks the state is in a better place than one year ago.

"I think folks are not going to get caught quite as flat footed as they did before. We have more and different kinds of resources that are available this year versus last year," Jesson Bradshaw said. "And I think a lot of people went back through and looked at, what risks do they have? What small kinds of exposures do they have? And how can they fix those?"

ERCOT says it will be conducting inspections to enforce the reports.

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SEE ALSO:
TX was warned to make changes after 4 weather events threatened power grid in 10 years, report shows

The federal government issued its final report into February's winter freeze that knocked out power for millions of Texans and killed hundreds.

Is Texas prepared for another winter storm? Some experts don't think so

Two bills were enacted this summer to help prevent power outages in the event of a weather emergency, but some people are pointing out loopholes.