With the arrival of frigid temperatures in the Rio Grande Valley on Thursday and Friday, electricity providers in the area are making preparations to make sure operations are working properly.
A strong cold front is expected to arrive in the Valley on Thursday, dropping daytime temperatures to the 40s and nighttime temperatures to the 30s. Factor in wind chills and the “feels like” temperatures will be in the teens and 20s Thursday night into Friday morning, and the 20s to 30s Friday night into Saturday morning.
Energy providers are aware that some residents may be concerned about the frigid weather and the possibility that power outages that could occur considering what happened in February 2021 when power outages happened across the Valley lasting either several hours or days. Many of those power outages were caused by controlled outages that were implemented to prevent a statewide blackout.
Ryan Greenfeld, communications and public relations manager for Brownsville Public Utilities Board, said staff are monitoring the situation and have already started to make preparations.
“We are preparing the way we would prepare for any major weather event. We are making sure there are standby personnel available and ready, vehicles and equipment are prepared…if there are areas that we know have experienced problems such as tree branches (on power lines,) we send tree trimmers to make sure the branches are cut,” Greenfeld said.
One of the biggest problems BPUB faces is when palm tree fronds land on the power lines that tend to cause a lot of the outages.
“Anytime there is bad weather that is something we try do and just make sure to review all of our emergency procedures,” he said.
BPUB will keep the public updated through its website and social media platform.
The winds on Thursday morning will start out about 10 to 15 mph and are expected to increase to 17 to 22 mph with wind gusts as high as 31 mph.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas or ERCOT has issued a winter weather watch effective through Sunday as winter weather moves through the state.
ERCOT is forecasting high energy demand for the duration of the winter weather. This cold front will bring freezing temperatures and precipitation to the ERCOT region, the agency said in a media release.
Eladio Jaimez, spokesman for AEP Texas, said AEP crews are also monitoring the weather and have crews ready to go and contractors on standby should their assistance be needed.
“We see this a lot during hurricanes…like during Hurricane Hanna where there was a lot of AEP crews out there, a lot of PUB crews out there, but you also saw a lot of trucks, companies like Line Tech and Bolt and different companies that come in and help us when we need to,” Jaimez said.
Storerooms are working to make sure replacement equipment is available.
“These are preparations that we take every year whether it’s a cold front coming in or a storm that just popped up during hurricane season; these are the preparations that we almost always go through,” Jaimez said.
