ERCOT says limited outages are still possible overnight due to snow and freezing temperatures

Austin, Texas – While many CPS Energy customers have received restored power, the Texas Electric Reliability Council says there is still the possibility of limited outages on Thursday night or Friday morning due to freezing weather.

However, ERCOT said in a statement on Friday that it hopes to make more energy available.

“The generating units that were online this morning remained in operation throughout the day,” Dan Woodfin, ERCOT’s chief operating officer, said in a written statement. “With a generation that remains constant, we hope that more generations will continue to become available.”

Although the snow is coming to an end, there will still be temperatures under frost, snow and ice throughout the night until morning, possibly leading to limited interruptions. These outages will help keep the network stable as usage increases, according to ERCOT.

According to the CPS Energy outage map, around 19:00 on Thursday, there are 215 active outages and 5,103 customers without electricity. These numbers can be changed throughout the night.

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Those who do not have electricity can fall into one of these three categories, according to ERCOT:

• Outside areas due to ice storm damage on the distribution system

• Areas that have been decommissioned due to the energy emergency load depot that must be manually restored (e.g., sending a crew to the location to revive the line)

• Large industrial facilities that have voluntarily gone offline to help during this energy emergency

On Thursday at 18:30, ERCOT said that almost 36,000 MW of generation remain forcibly interrupted due to this winter weather event. Of this, approximately 21,400 MW are thermal generators, and the rest wind and solar.

ABOUT: ERCOT suspends outages, but energy-free CPS Energy customers may not see relief for days