CenterPoint has installed 7,000 ‘storm resilient’ poles since Hurricane Beryl

As part of the second phase of its Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative (GHRI), CenterPoint Energy revealed in its latest monthly progress update new resiliency milestones, including the installation of approximately 7,060 “stronger, storm-resilient” total poles in the last three months.

In the last four weeks, the company has installed an additional nearly 2,500 “more storm-resilient” poles; completed the clearance of more than approximately 400 more miles of power lines with high-risk vegetation; undergrounded 40 more miles of power lines; and installed an additional 20 self-healing automation devices meant to minimise the impact of outages and help improve overall restoration times.

CenterPoint claims that, when completed, the resiliency actions outlined in GHRI Phase Two will lead to more than 125 million fewer outage minutes annually for customers.

On September 30, CenterPoint announced the launch of Phase Two of the GHRI, which included a series of actions meant to strengthen resiliency, enable a “self-healing” grid and reduce the duration and impact of power outages.

CenterPoint teams will be taking additional actions as part of the second phase of GHRI, which runs through May 31, 2025, including beginning in early 2025: installing around 4,500 automated reliability devices to create a more “self-healing’ grid and minimise sustained interruptions during major storm events as well as reduce restoration times; and establishing a network of 100 new weather monitoring stations. These projects are on track to begin in early 2025 and be completed before the start of the next hurricane season, CenterPoint said.

The company is also working to expand and improve the way it communicates with customers and engages with communities before, during and after emergencies, including through a year-round safety and preparedness campaign. Communication and customer access to reliable power outage information were the top challenges for Texas utilities during Hurricane Beryl. CenterPoint Energy’s outage map failure, which led some customers to rely on a fast food chain’s app for information, was among the biggest failures.

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After facing heat for its response to Hurricane Beryl in July, CenterPoint Energy announced in November the completion of the last of its 42 initial actions and commitments it made to state leaders and customers in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, meant to strengthen the electric system and improve its storm response. Following this announcement, CenterPoint said it shifted its focus to Phase 2 of the GHRI.

Hurricane Beryl’s toll on CenterPoint’s power grid in Houston forced utility crews to mitigate 35,000 downed trees, which faced “already poor soil conditions” before the story, CenterPoint said. Two of CenterPoint’s most publicized shortcomings before, during, and after Hurricane Beryl involved the response times of internal and mutual assistance utility crews and poor customer communication, including the unavailability of its customer outage map.

Executives had previously told local leaders they were “fully prepared” for Hurricane Beryl by pre-positioning crews, quickly standing up temporary response staging sites, and dispatching crews as soon as the storm had passed.

In a recent letter to lawmakers, CenterPoint proposed a roughly $5 billion investment in grid resiliency in the Houston area. This includes removing vegetation around power lines, system hardening, advanced automation, predictive modelling, and further actions to improve preparedness and communication ahead of winter and the 2025 hurricane season. Following the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, CenterPoint launched the first phase of GHRI, and completed all 40 actions ahead of schedule, on August 28.

In October, CenterPoint said it is turning to a pair of artificial intelligence tools to improve resilience, announcing collaborations with wildfire and extreme weather monitoring software provider Technosylva and Neara, an asset modelling platform. Both companies boast AI capabilities to improve system reliability and resilience. The partnership with Technosylva is a memorandum of understanding, while the Neara announcement appeared to be a firm contract to support CenterPoint’s operations in Houston.

Originally published by Sean Wolfe on Power Grid International.