ERCOT and Bryan Texas Utilities prepare for the winter season
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – As the temperature in Texas begins to fall, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas has taken action to prepare for what the weather will bring.
ERCOT announced that a new group of weatherization inspectors, who have completed the Certified Weather Inspector Program, will begin inspections of electric generation units and transmission facilities.
ERCOT also stated they will continue to ”deploy a comprehensive suite of programs and tools to ensure grid reliability and resiliency during the winter months, including additional ancillary services, an expanded firm fuel supply service, and the deployment of additional weatherization inspectors.”
In a news release on their website, they outlined the details of their improvements. It includes topics such as its scheduled maintenance period, forecasting improvements, fast frequency response service, and critical supply chain and critical infrastructure map among other things. The full list can be found at this link.
Meagan Brown, the Public Information Officer with Bryan Texas Utilities, has also made strides to prepare for the unpredictability of Texas weather in December.
“We are preparing always, all year round, and improving that and some of those projects take some length of time so of course we are doing those months in advance. however, you know, when we do have any kind of impending weather forecasted, then we kind of ramp up and do extra things,” she said.
BTU utilizes specific tools in case a winter storm heads our way.
“We have what we call heat tracing which surrounds different piping and objects like that and keeps it warm so it does not freeze up, that could be a problem with power plants, that is one of the major problems that happened during Winter Storm Uri,” she said.
They prepare all year round but ramp up if impending weather is forecasted.
“In those winter months, especially as far as the power plants goes and winterization efforts, you know, you do take a little more care and time then,” she said.
