Texas grid faces major summer test as hurricane season begins

HOUSTON — As hurricane season officially begins and summer heat intensifies across Texas, all eyes are on the state’s power grid. According to ERCOT’s latest supply and demand projections, Texas should have enough electricity to keep the lights on in the days ahead — but energy experts say there’s still cause for concern.

In Houston, residents are no strangers to the compounding threat of tropical storms and triple-digit heat, as seen after Hurricane Beryl, when widespread outages left many in the dark during sweltering temperatures.

In response to recent challenges, CenterPoint Energy says it has made significant infrastructure upgrades to improve resilience and reduce outages. Over the past 10 months, the utility company has:

• Installed or replaced more than 26,000 utility poles designed to withstand high winds
• Undergrounded over 400 miles of power lines
• Added 5,000+ automated switching devices to speed up outage recovery
• Cleared 6,000 miles of high-risk vegetation
• Built 100 new weather monitoring stations for real-time response and better storm preparation

While storms are a threat, so is the extreme summer heat, which can cause power demand to spike across the state.

“It is relying more and more on wind and solar,” said KHOU 11 energy expert Ed Hirs,
“and in fact, without the wind, solar and batteries, the last two summers would have been really difficult for ERCOT to get through without rolling blackouts.”

ERCOT has acknowledged a shift toward variable energy resources such as wind, solar, and battery storage. However, Hirs warns that this alone won’t be enough to avoid problems when demand peaks.

Hirs emphasized that Texas lacks sufficient dispatchable energy sources, such as natural gas, coal, and nuclear, that can be turned on when demand surges.

He also criticized state lawmakers, saying they did not make meaningful progress during the legislative session to strengthen the grid’s long-term reliability.

As Texans prepare for a long summer and the potential for severe storms, Hirs says leaders must hold power companies accountable for keeping systems operational and responsive.

ERCOT and CenterPoint’s ability to deliver on their promises will be tested in the months ahead.