The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the agency that operates the state's power grid, says a "very substantial" arctic cold front is coming our way.
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Officials are anticipating a high demand for power Wednesday through Sunday due to the forecasted cold front.
The highest demand for power will likely be Friday morning, state officials say. They are already anticipating the demand and are taking steps to make sure the power stays on for Texans.
ERCOT is telling power providers to halt any maintenance that might take power plants offline in the coming days. It is also telling power plant operators to bring plants that are offline for maintenance back online.
READ MORE: ERCOT issues winter weather advisory for Texas ahead of 'very substantial' cold front
ERCOT issues winter weather advisory ahead of 'substantial' cold front
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"ERCOT will deploy all the tools available to us to manage the grid effectively during this winter weather," officials said in a statement. "We are coordinating closely with the Texas Division of Emergency Management, the Public Utility Commission and elected officials - as well as electric generators and transmission and distribution utilities - to keep Texans informed throughout the week. We have ordered power plants across the region to postpone planned outages and to return from outages already in progress."
The Texas Public Utility Commission says 99% of power plants have been inspected since last year, and they feel confident the grid will not fail as it did a year ago.
In February 2021, more than 200 people died when the power went off for an extended period of time. This year, officials say there could be localized outages, but not state-wide black outs.
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"The time during the course of this winter storm, when we are excepting the highest demand for power from the power grid, is going to be on Friday morning," Gov. Greg Abbott said at a briefing Tuesday. "Today, right now, the prognostication is that ERCOT will have an excess of 15,000 megawatts of power available, even at the time of highest demand."
The state says there will be icy road conditions across the state, and TxDOT is already working to pre-treat roadways.
Abbott warned that there will be "thousands and thousands of miles" of Texas roadways that will be extremely dangerous to travel on.
He said treacherous road conditions could put lives in danger, and drivers should proceed with caution and stay home when necessary.
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