HOUSTON — After last year's freeze, we're all watching ERCOT to see if we'll be able to keep the power on.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has a dashboard that allows you to monitor real-time grid conditions.
Gov. Greg Abbott said at a winter weather briefing Thursday morning that current and projected grid conditions show there is plenty of power available now and for the rest of this winter storm.
The governor said at peak demand, expected Friday morning, the ERCOT grid should have about 10,000 extra megawatts of power. For context, that's enough to supply about two million homes.
However, Abbott and the Public Utility Commission added that many parts of the state are dealing with one of the most significant icing events in decades.
Ice on power lines and fallen tree limbs had already caused the lights to go out for about 70,000 customers by midday Thursday, officials said.
“It’s important to understand that these are localized outages that are not related to system-wide reliability issues,” Public Utility Commission of Texas Chairman Peter Lake said. “The grid is strong, it's reliable, and it's performing well in this winter weather event.”
The governor said there are about 10,000 linemen deployed across the state working to fix any downed lines.
The head of the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the natural gas industry, said the RRC reports no significant issues, and natural gas is flowing.
KHOU energy expert Ed Hirs said early Thursday the grid seemed to be holding up.
“Tomorrow, ERCOT is expecting peak demand about 8 am.,” he said. “That will be the coldest point across all of the state. And they're confident they have enough supply to meet the demand.