Texas Needs a Bigger Grid
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By Bryn Baker, Senior Director of Policy and Markets, The Texas Energy Buyers Alliance (TEBA)
Baker focuses on policies that allow energy buyers to access low-cost, reliable and clean energy through an expanded and modernized grid
This was previously published in the Austin American-Statesman.
The industries of the future are here, and they want to be in Texas. Artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, and other energy-hungry industries represent our state’s greatest economic opportunity in a generation.
But bringing them here will require more than just the raw energy they need. It also demands a transmission system that can efficiently deliver electricity to all Texans who are counting on it.
Thoughtful bills, such as Senate Bill 6 by Senators Phil King and Charles Schwertner, have been and will be filed at the Texas Capitol this year recognizing that the state needs to rethink how it plans, pays for, and ultimately builds transmission. These discussions must acknowledge that transmission, like roads and water, is the backbone of the Texas economy.
“To plug new industries into the state’s power grid, Texas must plan for and create the most cost-efficient transmission system for Texans’ long-term needs.”
Access to electricity is one of the first things employers look at when deciding where to build and hire. Keeping pace in the artificial intelligence arms race and growing the state’s manufacturing workforce requires the most reliable, affordable, and cost-efficient energy system possible.
TEBA advances reliable, affordable clean energy for Texas. Members include about 270 companies with hundreds of thousands of Texas employees.
“A bigger, better grid will save money and make the grid more reliable for all Texas consumers.”
To be sure, Texas needs an all-of-the-above energy strategy — building on the state’s leadership in oil and gas, solar and wind power, and technologies such as battery storage and modular nuclear power — to meet the energy needs of existing and future employers.
But legislators also must get electricity where it needs to go. That’s where transmission comes in.
The transmission system is for energy what the highway system is for cars. Big power lines crisscross the state, delivering electricity from the plants that generate it to the customers who use it. When growth forces more Texans to rely on the same power lines, those lines get congested.
Congestion creates big problems when demand rises, especially in response to severe heat or cold weather. This crowding costs Texans $2 billion per year in charges.
“When growth forces more Texans to rely on the same power lines, those lines get congested. ... This crowding costs Texans $2 billion per year.”
It also contributes to blackouts. In February 2021, as millions of Texans sat shivering without power, electricity was stuck in South Texas because the grid was too congested to get it where it needed to go. Something similar happened in 2023, when a transmission line to South Texas became overloaded, nearly causing blackouts.
Unfortunately, the state’s transmission planning process isn’t designed to deliver the kinds of projects that will support a thriving future economy. Lines don’t always connect with the areas where energy will be most needed, they aren’t always sized to meet predictable longer-term needs, it takes years to plan and approve them, and long-term benefits aren’t always considered in decisions.
That means all energy consumers pay more for transmission than they should.
“The Texas Legislature should encourage a planning process that creates a truly cost-efficient transmission system, meeting the state’s needs today and enabling its growth tomorrow.”
This year, Texas legislators should update the planning process — taking into account the long-term benefits of transmission for consumers. They also should optimize the existing system with advanced transmission technologies such as infrastructure, hardware and software options, sensors, and other improvements that can increase the grid’s capacity and resilience by as much as 20-50%, and at a fraction of the cost of a new power line.
And the Legislature should encourage installation of new, higher-capacity power lines, known as extra high voltage lines, when such installations are shown to benefit consumers. This approach moves more electricity at a lower cost than multiple smaller lines, which in turn can reduce costs and strengthen the grid.
Transmission challenges aren’t unique to Texas. Leaders across the country are approving and implementing big transmission investments — including higher capacity lines — to meet industry needs and benefit consumers.
Texas should lead this transformation. For generations, Texas has been a critical economic engine that has propelled the American economy. Now, that economy is changing in ways that require far more electricity.
If Texas can figure out how to generate — and deliver — the energy that these transformative industries require, we can make sure the Lone Star State shines as brightly over the next 100 years as it has over the past century.
The Texas Energy Buyers Alliance (TEBA) advances reliable, affordable clean energy for Texas. Members include about 270 companies with hundreds of thousands of Texas employees.