Gov. Greg Abbott said he is confident the Texas power grid will be able to keep up with the demand during the winter storm.
Gov. Greg Abbott gave an update on the state’s response to the winter storm Thursday morning. He said there is enough power to keep up with demand.Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday asserted that the state power grid will hold up even as we approach record-breaking demand Friday morning.
"The Texas electrical grid is the most reliable and resilient it’s ever been," he said. "As compared to last year, Texas has 15% more power generation capacity. There’s also more reserve power available than last year. The grid is projected to have a surplus of more than 10,000 megawatts for peak demand tomorrow on Friday morning, which we expect to be the peak demand of the winter storm." ERCOT says Texas will reach record demand by Friday morning. It says there’s enough energy to meet that demand and power an extra two million homes. Part of the reason is that wind farms where turbines were expected to freeze didn’t, and they were able to produce more energy than expected."If weather limits the flow of natural gas, we have several days of gas in storage that can be used," Abbott said. The governor said local power providers are bringing in extra resources and crews to get any downed power lines back up. There are more than 10,000 linemen already working for power transmission companies, plus another 2,000 are coming in from out of state to speed up repairs.Overall, power outages haven’t been as bad as they could have been in North Texas compared to last year. Stacey Silverman's family in Grapevine and others across North Texas have had anxiety ever since hearing we were getting another dose of winter weather.When FOX 4 spoke with Silverman last year, she was storing groceries in boxes in her back yard… and she went without power for days. This time just as the storm rolled in Wednesday night, Silverman once again found herself without power. "Our lights started flickering, and we thought, ‘Oh my God. No. No.’ And then one in the morning, bam! No power," she said. "An hour came. I got a text back at 3 a.m. it’ll be on. I didn’t sleep all night because I was nervous. Then at three in the morning it’ll be on at 5 a.m. Then 7 in the morning. I had no faith it would be on at all."Oncor says it’s got about 6,000 employees working across the state as ice accumulations caused tens of thousands of outages. Most were in North Texas."Literally, we're traumatized from last year just to say the least of dealing with having to restore not only our home, but a business as well," she said. Pipes burst in both Fuller’s home and her business. This time so far, her lights in Balch Springs have stayed on. "I'm just having my fingers crossed there. Hoping the sun just comes out and this just kind of melts away. And that's a thing of the past," she said.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says he can't guarantee power one year after freezeThe National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings heeding against icy conditions in multiple Texas counties.
Read more »
The two brutal challenges Texas' Abbott may not know how fix.MaddowBlog: Between a suspect power grid and a disastrous Guard deployment, Texas Gov. Abbott is confronting challenges he doesn't know how to fix.
Read more »
Huge Winter Storm Has Texas Gov. Abbott Singing a Different Tune About Power OutagesThe state is girding up for ice and snow as a 2,000-mile-long winter storm hits this week.
Read more »
LISTEN: Brady’s exit, Cowboys gobbledygook, Luka’s motivation and Texas Tech’s thing with TexasA new episode of our ‘SportsDay Insider’ podcast is out! Join us as we discuss Tom Brady’s impact on quarterbacks, including Dak, Luka’s third All-Star bout and Chris Beard’s return to Texas Tech. Link:
Read more »
Coming Up: Gov. Greg Abbott Weather Briefing ThursdayTexas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) will receive a briefing and provide an update on the severe winter weather impacting the state of Texas Thursday morning.
Read more »
Texas Power Grid 'Fully Functioning And Reliable' During Winter Storm, Gov. Greg Abbott SaysGov. Abbott said 27 state agencies are responding to the impact of the storm 'to ensure Texans have the support and resources they need to stay safe.'
Read more »