GOV. ABBOTT CALLS WINTER STORM ‘ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT ICING EVENTS’ IN DECADES

  

Governor Greg Abbott describes the ongoing winter storm as “one of the most significant icing events” Texas has had “in at least several decades.”

During a news conference on Thursday, Abbott and other state officials gave an update on Texas’ power grid and what the state is doing to help counties severely impacted by the weather.

Abbott said the power grid is meeting energy demand and is expected to have 10,000 megawatts over what peak demand this (Friday) morning would need.  While there were 70,000 Texans without power at the time of the news conference, he said those outages are local issues and are not indicative of how the entire power grid is doing.

Prior to the arrival of the storm, officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said they had taken steps to ensure grid reliability ahead of the spike in demand, including inspecting generating units for new weatherization requirements and assessing on-site fuel supplies.

Abbott said the state is providing additional resources to local power providers to fix any outages, such as bringing in out-of-state linemen.  He also signed a disaster declaration for 17 counties to further assist in recovery efforts.

Abbott said anyone experiencing an outage can report it and find information about their power provider by going to www.puc.texas.gov/storm.