Texas grid weathers another overnight freeze: Update

Updates throughout with ERCOT statement, outage numbers.

Texas weathered yet another night of below-freezing temperatures with power outages continuing their decline across the state, leading the state's power grid operator to say it would end emergency conditions later today.

Grid operator the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) at 9:40am ET today said there was enough generation to begin to return to more normal operating conditions. The grid said no additional outages were needed overnight to keep power supply and demand in balance, and only a few generating units tripped.

As of 8:30am ET about 34GW of generation capacity was off line, with 20GW of that total being thermal generation — natural gas, coal and nuclear. The total remaining capacity that was off line represented about 40pc of the total generation capacity that ERCOT lists as its expected capacity to manage summer 2021 peak demand, or 86GW.

The grid had expected to be tested early this morning as more citizens woke up and increased their power use to heat homes and begin their days, and yesterday said the need for rolling outages to control demand was possible. Power outages across the state fell significantly overnight but ticked slightly higher after 9am ET.

Power outages in Texas as of 10am ET numbered 192,191, up slightly from 187,151 outages shown at 7:45am ET, according to outage tracker PowerOutage.US. Today's outages remain significantly lower than the 503,000 at midday yesterday.

The 1,250MW South Texas 1 nuclear unit is back up to full power today after shutting on 15 February from a frozen cooling water intake and beginning to ramp back up yesterday, according to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Hourly electricity demand on the state's grid at 7am ET totaled 55,055 MWh, up by 3pc from the prior hour, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Natural gas-fired power met the lion's share of demand at the end of the day yesterday, at 30,883 MWh, with coal at 9,340 MWh, nuclear at 5,140 MWh and wind at 5,628 MWh, according to the most recent EIA data available.

ERCOT yesterday said it had enough generation to meet demand on its grid and notified utilities to restore service to all customers.

The grid operator did not issue any controlled or rotating outages yesterday as generation supply remained stable, utility Oncor Energy said. ERCOT yesterday morning had said it would direct utilities to implement rolling outages if that need arose. The grid operator does not control rolling outages itself but directs utilities to begin them if the grid needs to shed load.

ERCOT today said the only remaining outages across the state were a result of damage from the storm, such as downed power lines and inoperable equipment, or in some cases power transmission that has to be manually turned back on by crews in the field. A smaller portion of remaining outages are large industrial facilities that remain off line in order to conserve power.

Utility CenterPoint Energy, which serves the Houston area, showed 6,552 customers without power as of 10am ET, up from 4,015 at 7:48am ET but down from 31,000 outages at midday yesterday. The utility last night issued a plea to its customers to continue to conserve electricity in order to avoid too much demand on the grid.

Oncor, which serves the northern Texas region including Dallas, had reported 27,000 remaining outages as of 7am ET, down from 178,000 at midday yesterday. Oncor's outage tracker at 10am ET showed 4,378 active outages. The utility said low temperatures, hazardous road conditions and the residual effects of controlled outages on its equipment has complicated the restoration process, with equipment damage in some areas.

The temperature in Dallas as of 8:15am ET was just 17°F (-8°C), and is forecast to reach a high of 36°F today. Houston was at 25°F, and forecast to reach as high as 45°F.

By TL Hamilton