CenterPoint Energy has started installing the first wave of weather monitoring stations to enhance situational awareness during severe weather events, as part of the Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative (GHRI) and the utility’s actions to prepare for the 2025 hurricane season.
Once completed by June 1, CenterPoint's network of 100 weather stations will provide detailed, real-time weather data from all 12 counties in the company's Greater Houston area electric service territory. The data will enable CenterPoint and local emergency partners to:
- Better forecast severe weather
- More precisely distribute resources in key areas
- Take faster action to prepare for and respond to potential impacts to the electric system
- Better serve customers before, during and after weather events
"Our weather network will provide invaluable situational awareness, in real-time, to help us act quickly, proactively and precisely before weather threatens to impact the electrical system and our customers,” said Matt Lanza, CenterPoint's Meteorology Manager and Emergency Preparedness and Response team member. “Best of all, we will be able to share this vital information with all our emergency partners, state and local governments, and the public, so that everyone across our communities can be better prepared."
The weather monitoring stations will be installed in strategic locations on existing electrical infrastructure across CenterPoint's 12-county Greater Houston area electric service territory. The devices will take measurements every 2-5 minutes, including humidity levels, wind speed, temperature and rainfall.
CenterPoint's weather monitoring network is the latest in a series of actions taken as part of the GHRI, designed to prepare for severe weather and create the most resilient coastal grid in the country. By June 1, the company will also have completed additional resiliency actions including:
- Installing 25,000 stronger, more storm-resilient poles built to withstand extreme winds;
- Installing 4,850 automated reliability devices capable of self-healing, potentially reducing the impact of outages and improve restoration times;
- Clearing high-risk vegetation near 4,000 miles of power lines to reduce storm-related outages; and
- Undergrounding 400 miles of power lines to improve overall resiliency.
The array of critical actions will not only improve overall grid resiliency and reliability but is also projected to reduce outages for customers by more than 125 million minutes annually, upon completion.
