Power Grid Holds Up During Wintry Blast

The electricity grid that covers most of Texas was holding up as of Sunday during the latest winter storm, although localized power outages were reported in Deep East Texas and far West Texas.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas dashboard indicated demand was running comfortably below available capacity. As of Sunday, more than 128,000 customers were without power, according to poweroutage. us, with the most being reported in Nacogdoches, Cherokee, and Rusk counties.

“Based on expected weather conditions, ERCOT anticipates there will be sufficient generation to meet demand,” a spokesperson for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said. “ERCOT will continue to deploy all available resources to manage the grid reliably and coordinate closely with the Public Utility Commission, generation providers, and transmission utilities.”

Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration just prior to the storm for 134 Texas counties to ensure adequate resources were available to Texans.

Crockett, Talarico Hold First Debate 

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico both presented themselves as fighters during their first debate in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, held in Georgetown last Saturday. The two are competing to face the GOP primary winner. Incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn faces challengers Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt.

The two Democrats debated for an hour, The Texas Tribune reported. Crockett pitched herself as a political brawler who could expand the electorate, while Talarico emphasized his Christian faith and record fighting “tooth and nail” in the Texas House.

Data Centers Could Strain Water Supply A new report says the boom in data centers across Texas could consume nearly 3% of the state’s water by 2030, the Houston Chronicle reported. The Houston Advanced Research Center found the data centers, used to power artificial intelligence, used 25 billion gallons of water in 2025. That amount could increase to 161 billion gallons annually by 2030. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has already been warning that the data centers, which also require vast amounts of electricity, could potentially strain the state’s power grid. ERCOT oversees most of the state’s power grid.

“The data center surge presents a unique challenge that requires immediate attention,” said HARC President John Hall. An estimated 575 data centers are already in place, concentrated in Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, Houston and San Antonio.

Texas lawmakers last year passed a law setting up a $20 billion water fund, with $1 billion disbursed annually starting in 2027 for infrastructure, after an initial allocation of $2.5 billion.