CenterPoint Energy aims to complete its suite of grid resiliency projects before the 2025 hurricane season. Photo via centerpointenergy.com

CenterPoint reports progress on grid improvements ahead of 2025 hurricane season

grid resilience

As part of an ongoing process to make Houston better prepared for climate disasters, CenterPoint Energy announced its latest progress update on the second phase of the Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative (GHRI).

CenterPoint reported that it has completed 70 percent of its resiliency work and all GHRI-related actions are expected to be complete before the official start of the 2025 hurricane season.

"Our entire CenterPoint Houston Electric team is focused on completing this historic suite of grid resiliency actions before the start of hurricane season,” Darin Carroll, Senior Vice President of CenterPoint's Electric Business, said in a news release. “That is our goal, and we will achieve it. To date, we have made significant progress as part of this historic effort.”

CenterPoint’s resiliency solutions include clearing higher-risk vegetation across thousands of miles of power lines, adding thousands more automation devices capable of self-healing, installing thousands of storm-resistant poles, and undergrounding hundreds of miles of power lines.

CenterPoint's GHRI efforts, which entered a second phase in September 2024, aim to improve overall grid resiliency and reliability and are estimated to reduce outages for customers by more than 125 million minutes annually, according to the company. It has undergrounded nearly 350 miles of power lines, about 85 percent of the way toward its target of 400 miles, which will help improve resiliency and reduce the risk of outages. CenterPoint also aims to install the first of 100 new local weather monitoring stations by June 1.

In March, CenterPoint cleared 655 miles of high-risk vegetation near power lines, installed 1,215 automated reliability devices capable of self-healing, and added an additional 3,300 storm-resilient poles.

In April, CenterPoint will begin building a network of 100 new weather monitoring stations, which will provide 24/7 weather monitoring and storm response preparation.

“We will continue to work every day to complete these critical improvements as part of our company's goal of building the most resilient coastal grid in the country,” Carroll added in the release.

Coastal lawmakers have filed at least six bills that would require emergency generators on site for senior facilities. Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Texas lawmakers push for generators at senior living facilities after Hurricane Beryl

Being Prepared

When a storm hits the Texas coast during the summer hurricane season, state Sen. Borris Miles knows among the first calls he’ll get is from a constituent letting him know power is down at an independent living complex, shutting off air conditioning for older Texans.

“‘Senator! You got these people here,’“ he said, recalling a plea from a caller when Hurricane Beryl knocked out power to an assisted living facility last summer. “‘What are we going to do?’’’

Miles, D-Houston, is thankful for residents like these. But as the number of storms have increased, so has the frustration for southeast Texas lawmakers who want better solutions.

That’s why Miles and four other coastal lawmakers have filed at least six bills that would require nursing homes, assisted living facilities and even some apartments that market to the 55 and older set, to have emergency generators on site. In Texas, there are 1,193 nursing homes serving more than 86,000 patients and 2,004 assisted living facilities housing 49,574 residents.

Miles’ House Bill 732 would require certain low-income housing for seniors living independently to have backup power. In recent years, Miles has seen more of these facilities being built in Houston. Often living in multistory apartment buildings, residents of this type of housing do not receive care, so little information, including on their health conditions, are collected. But after a storm knocks out power, the vulnerable conditions of these residents surface, as some in wheelchairs and walkers become trapped in elevators that are inoperable, Miles said.

“We need to take care of people,” he said.

SB 481 from state Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, would require emergency plans at nursing homes and assisted living facilities to include generators. Nursing homes, which as the name suggests, offer more intense medical support to patients compared to assisted living facilities, which are senior apartments that provide meals and some assistance to its residents. HB 1199 by Rep. Christian Manuel, D-Beaumont, calls for emergency generators that have the capacity to run for a minimum of 72 hours in such facilities.

“Texans know firsthand the impact of being without power, particularly in elder care facilities where the stakes are incredibly high,” Manuel said in a statement.

Rep. Suleman Lalani, D-Sugar Land, has filed HB 1467 that would require nursing homes, assisted living and independent housing for seniors to have generators. Another one of his bills, HB 863, would create a shared database of where senior independent living communities are and include each complex’s emergency plan, which is required by the state for assisted living and nursing homes. The database would be accessible to emergency response officials.

“Things happen and then people make noise and then people go quiet,” he said, remarking on past failed attempts to get a generator bill passed. “I think I have a unique opportunity and responsibility being a physician…I cannot go back and say ‘Oh,’ I will let it go.”

History of generator bills and pushback

In this century alone, Texans have seen damage and death from hurricanes Rita in 2005, Ike in 2008, Harvey in 2017 and last July’s Beryl, not to mention more freak storms like Uri’s freeze in 2021 and last year’s wildfires in the Panhandle and a windstorm in the Houston area. All have taken the power down for hours, days and in the case of Beryl, weeks.

Former state Rep. Ed Thompson of Pearland became a champion for senior facility residents following a simple spring storm in 2018 that caused a power outage in his district.

After arriving to check on a nearby senior facility, he was stunned to find an ill-prepared staff. Residents had been in a hot and dark facility for hours. When he asked a worker about the facility’s emergency plan, he was incensed that it relied mostly on calling families to pick up their relatives or for those who had no family, just sending them to the local emergency rooms.

“That lit a fire in me,” he told the Tribune last week.

Calls for generators to be required equipment, particularly at assisted living facilities, are nothing new, but bills in the last two legislative sessions have died, including Thompson’s in 2023. His legislation stalled in committee after facing opposition from the nursing care and assisted living industries, which raised concerns, mostly about generator’ costs, which is estimated to be at least $200,000 or more for a facility.

That’s why this session, Rep. Ana Hernandez, D-Houston, has filed HB 2224 which would require backup power for elevators for 48 hours after a power loss. “A significant reduction in cost,” she said. Past bills that have failed, she said, have focused on keeping the entire facility powered.

“It is inhumane to leave an elderly person abandoned without electricity in temperatures over 100 degrees for days, or even weeks,” Hernandez said. “Not having at least one elevator poses a high safety risk of elderly people being trapped on upper-level floors, prohibiting residents from escaping a fire or seeking medical care.”

It’s not clear whether the smaller price tag on such a requirement will get the buy-in of the influential long-term care industry.

The Texas Health Care Association, now headed by former state Sen. Travis Clardy, represents most of the state’s nursing homes and he says his members already have generators but any blanket requirement for equipment that has to be purchased and maintained, perhaps once every few years, is a costly state mandate.

“I think our membership would prefer to be able to see that channeled into higher quality care,” Clardy said.

Requirements during a storm

When a storm heads for Texas, the state Health and Human Services Commission sends out emergency alerts to providers, putting them on notice that their emergency plans should be ready for use in case of a loss of power. The agency also contacts the facilities directly to check on the health and safety status of residents.

Last year, some 80 long-term care facilities were without power three days after Hurricane Beryl made landfall on July 8. According to the agency, both assisted living facilities and nursing homes are always responsible for the safety of residents including during a storm.

Emergency preparedness plans, which all assisted living and nursing home facilities must have, include a list of contacts workers will call in the event of a power outage and how they will evacuate residents if they need to do so.

Since 1996, state law has required all new nursing homes to have an emergency generator that powers safety features such as emergency lighting and exit signs, fire alarm systems, nurse call systems, telephones and medication and life-saving equipment. Assisted living facilities are not required to have a generator.

That said many assisted living facilities have some type of power back up to keep food or medications refrigerated. But cooling and heating all living areas is not something that has been explicitly required for assisted living facilities or nursing homes.

Since 2016, federal law requires generators in nursing homes in new and replacement nursing homes or for all nursing homes that have indicated in their emergency plans they would rely on emergency power to provide heating and cooling or other critical systems.

However, the agency does not regulate other types of housing such as independent, senior, or congregant living facilities. These entities do not hold a state license and are not required to report any information to the state health agency.

Carmen Tilton, vice president of public policy for the Texas Assisted Living Association said her industry has been a willing collaborative partner with lawmakers on the issue of requiring generators.

After Hurricane Harvey, her organization worked with the state to to hammer out a regulation that requires facilities to keep temperatures inside no colder than 68 degrees and no hotter than 82.

“The state doesn’t say you have to check a box,” she said.

The agency leaves it to industry to determine how they will meet that standard. It could be cooling one room inside a facility with fans and portable generators and bringing residents into that one room or if assisted living facilities wanted to purchase and maintain a larger generator, they can do so without the state determining the size, or how much fuel to keep on hand at all times.

That flexibility is what the assisted living industry wants to keep in place, Tilton said.

“We recognize that everyone’s set-up is a little bit different,” she said. “We’re not fighting these bills. We’re trying to find out how to make them work under our existing regulations.”

AARP Texas, which is advocating for generators in assisted living facilities, wants more clarity in law, not just in the administrative code. The code is too often and too easily changed, said Andrea Earl, an associate state director of advocacy and outreach at AARP Texas.

“There’s no assurances in law that healthy temperatures will be maintained at all times in the residential spaces of Texas’ long-term care facilities,” she said.

Some local governments are not waiting on the legislature to act. Earlier this month, Harris County announced it was incorporating into its fire code a requirement for generators for all nursing homes and assisted living facilities located in unincorporated areas.

There’s already been pushback.

“The new mandate is problematic in many ways and would needlessly require communities to reconfigure existing systems,” said Diana Martinez, the assisted living association’s president and CEO, in a statement. “Generators are not a one-time expenditure nor are they a panacea. Generators do fail.”

___

This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

Ad Placement 300x100
Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Greentown Labs names Lawson Gow as its new Houston leader

head of hou

Greentown Labs has named Lawson Gow as its Head of Houston.

Gow is the founder of The Cannon, a coworking space with seven locations in the Houston area, with additional partner spaces. He also recently served as managing partner at Houston-based investment and advisory firm Helium Capital. Gow is the son of David Gow, founder of Energy Capital's parent company, Gow Media.

According to Greentown, Gow will "enhance the founder experience, cultivate strategic partnerships, and accelerate climatetech solutions" in his new role.

“I couldn’t be more excited to join Greentown at this critical moment for the energy transition,” Gow said in a news release. “Greentown has a fantastic track record of supporting entrepreneurs in Houston, Boston, and beyond, and I am eager to keep advancing our mission in the energy transition capital of the world.”

Gow has also held analyst, strategy and advising roles since graduating from Rice University.

“We are thrilled to welcome Lawson to our leadership team,” Georgina Campbell Flatter, CEO of Greentown Labs, added in the release. “Lawson has spent his career building community and championing entrepreneurs, and we look forward to him deepening Greentown’s support of climate and energy startups as our Head of Houston.”

Gow is the latest addition to a series of new hires at Greentown Labs following a leadership shakeup.

Flatter was named as the organization's new CEO in February, replacing Kevin Dutt, Greentown’s interim CEO, who replaced Kevin Knobloch after he announced that he would step down in July 2024 after less than a year in the role.

Greentown also named Naheed Malik its new CFO in January.

Timmeko Moore Love was named the first Houston general manager and senior vice president of Greentown Labs. According to LinkedIn, she left the role in January.

Key takeaways from HETI's Resilient Power Fueling Houston's Economy event

The View From HETI

Recently, the Resilient Power Fueling Houston’s Growing Economy workshop hosted by The Greater Houston Partnership’s Houston Energy Transition Initiative (HETI) brought together more than 80 industry, civic and innovation leaders in Houston to examine the region’s ability to meet rising demand with resilient power leadership.

The overarching message was clear: Houston is the epicenter of energy and power resilience and the “all of the above” strategy continues to position Houston well for the mission of continued economic growth for the region.

Morning highlights

Keynote speakers and panelists throughout the morning sessions highlighted that Houston’s ability to collaborate is creating real opportunities in a time of significant complexity and uncertainty in the power landscape. Discussions also focused on strategic approaches to resilience in both generation and transmission to serve growing power demand and drive economic growth over the near-term and long-term.

A successful near-term strategy highlighted in the workshop is the innovative business partnership to provide resilience for H-E-B’s retail operations with Enchanted Rock’s bridge-to-grid power solutions. The impact of growing sources of power demand was explored, including the decarbonization of industry and increasing digitization, and the essential collaborations between the energy and tech sectors to drive effective long-term power resilience and economic growth were discussed.

Notable quotes

“Public-private collaborations are the key to solve long-term power resilience problems with the technical expertise and investment capital of corporations and a right-sized local government approach” – Angela Blanchard, Chief Resilience Officer, City of Houston

"The risks and challenges in terms of our net zero power goals require both urgency and long-term focus to drive standardization across the system with speed.” – Sverre Brandsberg-Dahl, General Manager & Head of Product, Microsoft Cloud for Energy

Afternoon highlights

Afternoon sessions focused on complexities and challenges in the current power landscape, as well as policy enablers, investment trends, and innovations driving growth in Houston’s power sector. Stakeholder engagement, supply chain, permitting, and policy emerged from these discussions as key enablers for power and infrastructure investment, innovation, and project advancement.

Advancing and accelerating power and infrastructure projects will require focusing on the critical needs of land, power, and permits. Public-private investment partnerships, along with redesigned regulatory architecture and redirected government incentives, can enable and accelerate innovation and emerging technologies within the power sector.

Notable quotes

Broad based stakeholder engagement on the ground – early and often – is necessary for the build-out of large-scale power infrastructure. – Al Vickers, Chief Operating Officer, Grid United

“Learning curves are essential to cost curves, iterative improvement is paramount to project execution.” – Mary Dhillon, Strategy Lead, Fervo Energy

“Show us good unit economics, and we will find the capital for those power and infrastructure projects.” – Michael Johnson, Vice Chairman, Energy Transition Investment Banking, J.P. Morgan

Houston’s resilient power leadership demonstrated through a unique “all of the above” approach with a broad range of investments and collaborations across sectors is creating sustained value for businesses and development opportunities for communities. The insights shared in this workshop reinforce the critical need for resilience of the power sector to meet growing demand for continued economic prosperity in the Houston region.

As the world moves toward a future of significant power demand growth, the power sector should prioritize integrated strategies, stakeholder engagement, supply chain, permitting, and policy as key enablers for innovation, investment, and collaboration.

———

This article originally ran on the Greater Houston Partnership's Houston Energy Transition Initiative blog. HETI exists to support Houston's future as an energy leader. Power resilience is a strategic imperative for the Greater Houston Partnership, and power management continues to be a key workstream for HETI. To learn more about HETI's work in power management and resilience, connect with us at contactheti@houston.org. And for more information about HETI, EnergyCapitalHTX's presenting sponsor, visit htxenergytransition.org.

Oxy's Vicki Hollub becomes first woman to win prestigious energy award

Winning Big

Vicki Hollub, president and CEO of Houston-based Occidental (Oxy), has become the first woman to win WPC Energy’s prestigious Dewhurst Award.

Hollub is the thirteenth recipient of the award, which is considered the highest honor from WPC Energy, a global, non-advocacy, non-political nonprofit organization that promotes the sustainable management of energy and energy products. She is just the fourth U.S. winner since the award launched in 1991. Other U.S. winners include former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson; Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of S&P Global and chairman of CERAWeek; and former chairman and CEO of Chevron Kenneth Derr.

According to WPC Energy, the Dewhurst Award is given to “exceptional individuals whose leadership and contributions have had a lasting impact on the global energy industry.” It is named after Thomas Dewhurst, who organised the first WPC Energy Congress, formerly the World Petroleum Congress, in 1933.

Oxy works to advance low-carbon technologies, reduce emissions and is leading a number of energy transition projects. Its Oxy Innovation Center is housed in Houston’s The Ion.

Hollub has held a variety of roles in her 40-year career with Occidental, including chief operating officer and senior executive vice president. She also led strategic acquisitions for Occidental of Anadarko Petroleum in 2019 and CrownRock in 2024, and serves on the boards of Lockheed Martin and the American Petroleum Institute. She is one of the first women to lead a major U.S. oil and gas company.

“Vicki Hollub’s visionary leadership and unwavering dedication to innovation and sustainability have set a benchmark for excellence in our industry,” Pedro Miras, WPC Energy President, said in a news release. “She embodies the spirit of the Dewhurst Award—forward-looking, courageous and deeply committed to advancing the global energy dialogue. Her contributions continue to inspire the next generation of energy leaders.”

Hollub will receive the award in April 2026 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the 25th WPC Energy Congress, where she will also present the Dewhurst Lecture.

“I am honored to be selected for the Dewhurst Award and appreciate WPC Energy recognizing our company’s achievements,” Hollub added in the release. “The Dewhurst Award reflects the collective efforts of the talented and dedicated team at Oxy, whose commitment to innovation, operational and technical excellence, and sustainability drives our success.”