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Interview with ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas
FOX 7 Austin's John Krinjak spoke with ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas one-on-one on Tuesday. Vegas said he is pleased by how the grid handled the frigid temps, snow and freezing rain. He also credited the changes that were made since the crippling winter storm three years ago.
AUSTIN, Texas - The arctic blast is set to end on Wednesday, and, so far, the Texas power grid has survived it. However, conditions were tight, and ERCOT had to ask Texans twice to conserve energy.
"I think the grid has really stood up well to the test of this winter event," said ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas.
For that, Vegas credits new power generation, new technology like batteries, and stricter winterization measures implemented since the deadly 2021 winter storm that brought the grid to its knees.
FOX 7 Austin's John Krinjak asked Vegas how close the grid got to potentially having rotating outages during this current winter weather event.
"The forecast showed the supply and demand getting much closer than in reality we ended up getting," said Vegas. "And then as we got all the commitments for the various power plants, we saw that margin improve."
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Austin weather: Austin Energy update on power
Austin Energy says, so far, crews are responding to just a handful of small outages Wednesday morning.
ERCOT also issued two conservation appeals: one for four hours on Monday morning, and another for three hours on Tuesday morning.
"Texans and consumers and businesses did really well, too, because they responded when we made that call for conservation, and we saw a real impact of that," said Vegas.
However, Krinjak asked Vegas if there was a point where it’s not sustainable to repeatedly ask people to conserve.
"Absolutely. And it's something that we are always thinking about, is how do we continuously build our way towards meeting the future demands of this Texas grid, not just the ones of today," said Vegas.
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Power grid holds Monday
The Texas power grid held on Monday despite peak demand records being set, but some are still concerned as the arctic blast hitting much of the state is continuing through Wednesday morning.
That, Vegas says, includes more power generation and incentivizing energy efficiency.
Krinjak asked Vegas how confident he is that Texas is going to get through the rest of this winter, without any major issue.
"Well, this weather event was certainly a strong testament to the quality of the work that's been done over the last couple of years. But we can never rest on our laurels on this," said Vegas. "We’re never going to rest until we can ensure that, you know, in every under any weather event, whether it's heat or cold or just every day, that, you know, Texans can feel comfortable knowing that their electricity is going to be reliable."
Despite another cold Tuesday night, Vegas does not expect another conservation call on Wednesday morning, because wind-generated power is expected to be high.
You can see more of our one-on-one interview with ERCOT’s CEO, Pablo Vegas, in this weekend’s FOX 7 Focus—Saturday night on FOX 7 Austin News, immediately following college basketball.