Near-term actions will include:
- Installing 25,000 new, stronger poles
- Removing or trimming 4,000 miles of higher-risk
vegetation
- Installing 4,500 automated reliability devices
Actions will be completed ahead of the 2025
hurricane season.
HOUSTON, Sept. 30,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, CenterPoint Energy
announced a comprehensive suite of new actions as part of the next
phase of its Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative (GHRI),
including strengthening the energy system and operations over the
next eight months and before the start of the 2025 hurricane
season. These extensive near-term actions will: build on the work
CenterPoint completed in the first phase of the GHRI, continue to
strengthen resiliency, improve its communications and develop
stronger partnerships, and help reinforce its electric system as it
prepares for both the upcoming winter season and the 2025 hurricane
season.
The actions in GHRI Phase Two will help enable a self-healing
grid, reduce the length and frequency of outages and lead to more
than 125 million fewer outage minutes annually for customers in the
Greater Houston area. Work will be
completed ahead of the 2025 hurricane season, or June 1, 2025, and will include:
- Installing new or replacing 25,000 poles that meet extreme
wind standards
- Trimming or removing higher-risk vegetation across 4,000
miles of power lines
- Installing 4,500 automation devices, known as trip savers,
and 350 Intelligent Grid Switching Devices as part of our effort to
build a self-healing grid that utilizes automation to respond to
outages faster
- Undergrounding more than 400 miles of power lines
- Launching a year-round public emergency preparedness and
safety communications campaign
- Strengthening our local partnerships with agencies and
partners critical to our emergency response efforts
"We know how important reliable and resilient energy is to our
2.8 million customers and that the Greater Houston region is the economic engine
for the State of Texas and the
energy capital of the world. That is why we are so focused on
modernizing our infrastructure as we work toward our goal of
building the most resilient coastal grid in the country that will
serve the energy needs of Houstonians for years to come," said
Jason Wells, President and CEO of
CenterPoint.
"We are proud of the immediate resiliency improvements we
delivered during Phase One of the Greater Houston Resiliency
Initiative and these actions were only the beginning. We have set
ambitious goals to achieve even further enhancements to our
resiliency before the 2025 hurricane season. We are committed to
developing the self-healing grid of the future that our customers
expect and deserve," said Wells.
The actions CenterPoint has taken, and will continue to take,
are designed to address its customers' major concerns following
Hurricane Beryl by lessening the impact and duration of
storm-related outages, improving its restoration efforts and
communications, while also advancing the day-to-day reliability of
its grid. Since August 17,
CenterPoint has held 19 community open houses for its customers and
community advocates, as well as numerous listening sessions with
local officials and community leaders to help ensure the Phase Two
actions address stakeholder concerns.
CenterPoint will track its progress towards completing all of
its GHRI commitments at www.CenterPointEnergy.com/TakingAction.
Continuing the Momentum of GHRI Phase One
On
August 28, CenterPoint announced that
it had completed, ahead of schedule, a series of core resiliency
actions as part of the first phase of its GHRI. During this initial
phase, more than 2,500 employees and contractors trimmed or removed
higher-risk vegetation from more than 2,000 power line miles,
installed more than 1,100 stronger, more storm-resilient poles and
installed more than 300 automated devices known as trip savers. In
addition to the launch of its new outage tracker and the completion
of 40 of its original 42 commitments, including all of those with a
deadline on or before September 30,
these actions represent meaningful, real-world resiliency
improvements for its customers this hurricane season.
Longer-Term Commitment to Resiliency and
Investment
Beyond the near-term actions of GHRI Phase Two,
CenterPoint will refile its long-term resiliency plan with the PUCT
on or before January 31, 2025. The
goal of the long-term resiliency plan is to mitigate a broad
spectrum of risks that threaten its system by hardening key aspects
of the infrastructure, enhancing the security of the grid and
building a smarter grid that can combat extreme weather, major
storms and hurricanes to reduce the impact of outages experienced
by its customers and mitigate wildfire risk.
As part of the long-term plan, CenterPoint will also propose
investing at least $5 billion from
2026 to 2028 – the largest investment in Greater Houston infrastructure in the
company's nearly 160-year history. The at least $5 billion is part of CenterPoint's new capital
investment plan that includes more than $21 billion in total
capital investment in its Texas
electric and gas systems from 2025 through 2030, exceeding its
current plan.
About CenterPoint Energy, Inc.
As the only investor-owned electric and gas utility based in
Texas, CenterPoint Energy, Inc.
(NYSE: CNP) is an energy delivery company with electric
transmission and distribution, power generation and natural gas
distribution operations that serve more than 7 million metered
customers in Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio and Texas. With approximately 9,000 employees,
CenterPoint Energy and its predecessor companies have been in
business for more than 150 years. For more information, visit
CenterPointEnergy.com.
Forward-looking Statements
This news release, as well
as the website pages related to the GHRI, includes forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. When used in this news release or the website
pages related to the GHRI, the words "anticipate," "believe,"
"continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "goal,"
"intend," "may," "objective," "plan," "potential," "predict,"
"projection," "should," "target," "will" or other similar words are
intended to identify forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements, which include statements regarding our
resiliency investments, and the GHRI, including effectiveness,
timing and related matters, are based upon assumptions of
management which are believed to be reasonable at the time made and
are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Actual events
and results may differ materially from those expressed or implied
by these forward-looking statements. Any statements in this news
release or the website pages related to the GHRI regarding future
events that are not historical facts are forward-looking
statements. Each forward-looking statement contained in this news
release or the website pages related to the GHRI speaks only as of
the date of this release. Important factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those indicated by the provided
forward-looking information include risks and uncertainties
relating to: (1) the impact of pandemics, including the COVID-19
pandemic; (2) financial market conditions; (3) general economic
conditions; (4) the timing and impact of future regulatory and
legislative decisions; and (5) other factors, risks and
uncertainties discussed in CenterPoint Energy's Annual Report on
Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 and
CenterPoint's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters
ended March 31, 2024 and June 30, 2024 and
other reports CenterPoint Energy or its subsidiaries may file from
time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
For more information,
contact:
Communications
Media.Relations@CenterPointEnergy.com
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SOURCE CenterPoint Energy
