AUSTIN, Texas — The state’s power grid manager issued a notice to be ready for next week’s expected cold weather. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) manages the grid for the majority of the state.
“OCN [Operating Condition Notice] issued for the predicted extreme cold weather event for the ERCOT Region Monday, Jan. 15, 2024, through Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024,” ERCOT’s Operations Messages show.
OCNs are the first of four levels ERCOT issues to the power market participants when anticipating a possible emergency condition as part of grid operations. The KVUE Defenders found at least one OCN issued each month dating back to August. In August, ERCOT’s OCNs were related to Tropical Storm Harold and days with extreme hot weather.
ERCOT issued an OCN on Sept. 18, 22 and 25 due to transmission constraints. An OCN was issued on Sept. 5 and Sept. 9 due to forecasted extreme heat. On Sept. 6, ERCOT issued an Energy Emergency Alert (EEA) Level 2, one level away from rolling blackouts.
In the last week of October, planned outages and topology changes led to three separate OCNs. Extreme hot weather led to two other OCNs earlier that month.
One OCNs issued in November and December were for planned outages and topology changes.
ERCOT told the KVUE Defenders it expects grid conditions to be normal and expects to have enough supply to meet demand.
The Monthly Outlook for Resource Adequacy (MORA) report for January 2024 shows a 20.56% chance of reaching an energy emergency for a severe storm similar to Christmas 2022.
“Reserve shortage risks are the highest during the morning hours when daily loads are typically at their highest (Hour Ending 8 a.m.) and just before and during the solar production ramp-up. There is also some higher risk in the evening hours due to increasing loads with a secondary peak occurring around Hour Ending 9:00 p.m,” the report shows.
After a deadly storm in February 2021, ERCOT, lawmakers and power regulators made changes to how the power grid operates. Those changes include mandating weatherization practices for power generators, transmission lines and certain natural gas facilities.
“Our inspection program is ahead of pace to what is required from a compliance perspective. We have completed over 1,500 inspections across generation and transmission facilities in the last two years, and we have close to 500 inspections planned this winter,” ERCOT president and CEO Pablo Vegas said in the ERCOT board of directors meeting on Dec. 19, 2023.
ERCOT, power regulators, emergency management leaders and oil and gas regulators mapped critical natural gas pipelines to help keep supply flowing to power plants during emergency conditions.
The Railroad Commission oversees oil and gas in the state.
“CID [Critical Infrastructure Division] has already inspected 99% of what are known as Tier One facilities, which are gas processing plants, underground gas storage facilities, pipelines that directly connect to electricity generation plants and oil and gas leases that produce more than 5 million cubic feet of gas per day. Facilities inspected are in compliance with RRC rules and no violations have been cited so far in the inspection cycle,” the RRC wrote in a press release on Dec. 20, 2023.
The press release shows RRC plans to inspect 5,600 critical gas facilities this winter.
Other changes to the way ERCOT manages the power grid include how maintenance is scheduled, improved forecasting, new services designed to give a faster response to grid changes and the Texas Advisory and Notification System (TXANS) to alert Texans to grid changes.
ERCOT issued a press release on Dec. 4 showing what it said was ongoing winter preparedness and grid improvements.