A news release on December 30 from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) stated that they have finalized “on-site inspections of mandatory winterization efforts.”
After the completion of the inspections, ERCOT found that “the independently-owned electric generation fleet and electric transmission companies serving the ERCOT region are ready for winter weather.”
More than three hundred electric generation units were inspected, “representing 85 percent of the megawatt-hours lost” during February’s winter storm. The new regulation mandating this winterization is the result of Winter Storm Uri and the twenty-two transmission station facilities that experienced outages. The Texas Department of State Health Services reports 210 deaths linked to the storm.
The news release stated some of the generators inspected exceeded requirements for winterization. Ten generation resources were found to require improvements, many of which have since been completed. All ten remain operational. Six out of the twenty-two facilities in the inspection had minor or potential deficiencies, but most have been fixed at this time.
“Texans can be confident the electric generation fleet and the grid are winterized and ready to provide power,” said Vice President of Grid Planning and Weatherization Woody Rickerson. “New regulations require all electric generation and transmission owners to make significant winterization improvements, and our inspections confirm they are prepared.”
Follow-up inspections will be held at facilities found to have potential issues, and a final report will be submitted to the Public Utility Commission of Texas on January 18, 2022, for review, so that any necessary enforcement action may be taken.
Earlier this year, Legislature increased the maximum penalty for violating weatherization rules to $1,000,000 per day per violation.
ERCOT stated in the release that it “does not own or operate any electric generation units or electric power lines,” but “is responsible for balancing electric supply and demand on an electric grid that serves more than 26 million Texans representing about 90 percent of the state’s electric demand.”