Energy provider Entergy presented an update on winterization efforts and reliability improvements that have been completed throughout the past year to The Woodlands Board of Directors during a Dec. 8 meeting.
Entergy Customer Service Manager Detrick Taylor presented to the board, stated efforts were made throughout the year to focus on communication both through a landing page and app that allows customers to get a better understanding of how long outages in the area will last.
Taylor said that following the winter storm in February, the energy provider hired a third party consultant to look at its power plants.
“We insulated critical equipment to protect them from lower temperatures and we insulated all of our piping that has standing water that would stop them from freezing,” Taylor said. “We also designed and built permanent enclosures that will protect our pumps and critical equipment, and we are exploring the use of wireless instruments that can monitor our lines and look for critical temperatures as they drop.”
Taylor said Entergy has winterized all of its facilities at this time.
Jace Carlock, manager of distribution reliability for Entergy, highlighted reliability projects that had been conducted in The Woodlands throughout 2021, which includes replacing 35,000 feet of underground cables throughout the area, most of which was within Panther Creek Village, replacing around 200 transformers and replacing six switch cabinets.
Going into 2022, Carlock said plans are in place to replace 50,000 feet of cable in Panther Creek and Grogans Mill Villages, around 200 transformers and 34 switch cabinets.
Carlock added there had been around a 38 minute decrease in the average outage duration, with the current average being around two hours to get power restored.
“We have increased the reliability of our feeders, and we have made sure we have winterized our power plants,” Taylor said. “We think we are in a much better position should we have one of those large winter storms again.”
