As Americans grapple with the stark realities of soaring AI-driven energy demand, Texas — of all places — is seriously considering a scheme to transmit electricity across the state that is worthy of California at its most dysfunctional.
The Lone Star State is embroiled in a widening controversy over a proposed 765-kilovolt (765kV) transmission line project that would carry power, much of it generated by far-flung wind and solar facilities, over 1,255 miles through East and Central Texas into the energy-rich Permian Basin in West Texas.
What began as a plan approved by Texas lawmakers to upgrade the state’s energy infrastructure has, under the direction of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) and grid operator ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), morphed into a sprawling monstrosity that far exceeds what the state legislature had authorized.
If left unchecked, the 765-kV project will see a vast network of nearly 200-foot-tall, extra-high voltage power lines and transmission towers installed on thousands of acres of farms, ranches and other private property. The project would be enabled by the condemnation of private land via eminent domain — if landowners refuse to go along.
Tellingly, the three proposed long-distance transmission lines will not produce any additional electricity, much less the reliable power the booming Texas economy demands. Instead, they will merely distribute an ever-growing amount of unreliable wind and solar power, thereby undermining the stability of the state’s grid.
A new study by energy analyst Brent Bennett of the Texas Public Policy Foundation concludes that the massive buildout of power lines is a misallocation of resources that fails to address skyrocketing energy demand and “would impose nearly $100 billion in lifetime costs on Texas ratepayers and result in irreversible property losses for thousands of landowners across the state.”
Bennett argues that the 765-kV plan is really designed to help grid operator ERCOT “manage a future system with ever more wind and solar power connecting to the grid to meet growing industrial demand.” The proposed expanded transmission lines “are a policy choice, not an economic or reliability necessity.”
Indeed, reliability could be one of the scheme’s most conspicuous casualties. Texas’s fixation on long-distance transmission corridors ignores the lessons that should have been learned after the near collapse of its grid during a severe February 2021 cold snap. The lack of reliable generation was the primary cause of the disaster.
Hundreds of wind turbines failed to function in the frigid temperatures. Similarly, feeding solar power to the grid during hot spells (not uncommon in Texas summers) creates its own reliability problems. During heat waves, electricity demand peaks in the late afternoon and early evening, precisely when solar power declines as the sun gets lower in the sky.
How could a plan so at odds with the livelihoods of ordinary Texans, and developed with minimal public input, ever be taken seriously? The answer lies in the powerful special interests who hope to benefit from the scheme. These include the companies that build the lines, first and foremost Oncor, Texas’s largest transmission and distribution utility. According to the Bennett study, these companies “receive a guaranteed return on equity on their capital expenditures” amounting to $25 billion.
For its part, the Texas PUC’s preference for long-distance transmission lines is rooted in a December 2022 study by New York-based S&P Global, a financial services company.
Commissioned by six oil and gas giants — Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Devon Energy, Diamondback Energy, ExxonMobil and Pioneer Natural Resources — the study repeatedly mentions “environmental, social and governance,” including setting ambitious emissions-reduction targets. And meeting emissions goals requires a vast network of transmission lines to deliver electricity from wind and solar facilities to the grid.
The 765-kV project is a land grab and money grab, all wrapped up in climate virtue signaling. The whole undertaking is completely unnecessary because Texas has smarter ways to address its soaring electricity needs.
“Building local reliable power sources instead of costly and damaging long-distance extension cords makes more economic sense,” says Margaret Byfield, executive director of Texas-based property-rights group American Stewards of Liberty.
The area originally targeted by state lawmakers for an energy infrastructure upgrade was the Permian Basin in West Texas (and southeastern New Mexico). It is America’s most prolific oil and gas field. Putting natural gas plants there, where they can provide nearby commercial and residential customers with reliable power, is both cheaper and less disruptive than airborne “extension cords.”
Recognizing the efficiency of such an arrangement, Chevron plans to build a natural gas plant for a Microsoft-operated data center in West Texas. The facility will operate behind the meter, delivering reliable, dispatchable electricity directly to the co-located data center — no long-distance power lines needed.
Facing growing public opposition and objections from 40 Republican state lawmakers, the Texas PUC has put a holdon the first segment of the power line project pending a review by administrative law judges. The 765-kV project hasn’t been stopped dead in its tracks, but this boondoggle in the making is at last receiving the scrutiny it deserves.
This article originally appeared at DC Journal