Texas regulators have approved the first transmission project in the Permian Basin Reliability Plan, Oncor’s proposed 23-mile, 345-kV double-circuit line east of El Paso in far West Texas (57828).

The Public Utility Commission endorsed the project, along with several others also out of ERCOT’s territory in West and East Texas, during its Oct. 2 open meeting. The project, which includes substation work, is expected to cost $216.1 million. It previously was approved by ERCOT.

The commission added language to the order requiring Oncor to make quarterly progress reports. The utility told the PUC it expects the facilities to be energized by December 2027.

The Permian Basin plan is a result of House Bill 5066, passed by the Texas Legislature in 2023 and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott (R). It required the PUC to approve a reliability plan for the Permian Basin that supports oil and gas electrification and growing community demand.

The commission approved the plan in September 2024. It comprises local projects such as Oncor’s. It also includes ERCOT’s first 765-kV transmission lines, with three import paths into the petroleum-rich basin. (See Texas PUC Approves Permian Reliability Plan.)

Outside ERCOT TEF Selections

The PUC accepted staff’s recommendation to select six projects eligible for $387.1 million under the Texas Energy Fund’s Outside ERCOT Grant Program (OEGP) after their analysis of completed applications.

The order delegates authority to Executive Director Connie Corona to enter into grant agreements with the applicants, contingent upon a final review (58492).

The applications, all for reliability and resilience projects, belong to:

• • Entergy: $199.7 million for transmission and distribution infrastructure hardening, pole replacement and flood-fortification projects.
  • Sam Houston Electric Cooperative: $87 million to bolster its distribution system in hurricane-prone regions of its East Texas service territory by replacing wooden utility poles with high-strength, corrosion-resistant steel or ductile iron poles.
  • East Texas Electric Cooperative: $51.5 million for undergrounding, pole upgrading, and transmission and distribution infrastructure projects.
  • El Paso Electric: $43.5 million for continuous online monitoring, an energy storage system project, underground hardening in Downtown El Paso and restoration work at its Newman gas plant, among other initiatives.

The OEGP is one of four programs under the TEF and has been given $1 billion by Texas lawmakers to dispense to projects that make reliability and resilience improvements, modernize infrastructure, improve weatherization or address vegetation management outside of ERCOT’s territory. The PUC selected the first four projects under the program in August, making them eligible for more than $240 million in grants. (See Texas PUC Approves $240M in Energy Fund Grants.)

Texas voters approved the TEF in November 2023 after legislation passed earlier in the year.

“The outside, or OEGP, piece of the bill maybe didn’t get as much attention as the inside-ERCOT piece, but it’s just as important,” commission Chair Thomas Gleeson said. “I think it signals and shows that we’re making significant progress towards achieving the goals of the entire bill.”

Entergy Transmission Project OK’d

The commission approved Entergy Texas’ proposed SETEX Area Reliability Project, a 500-kV single-circuit transmission line in northeastern Texas that has drawn opposition from local landowners (57648).

The commissioners settled on the same 145-mile route that had been before them in the two previous open meetings that had the project on the agenda. The project has estimated costs between $1.33 billion and $1.52 billion. (See “SETEX Reliability Project,” Texas PUC Releases Rulemakings for Large Loads.)

MISO identified the project as a baseline reliability project needed to comply with NERC’s federal reliability standards and to address demand growth in the region.

In other actions, the PUC:

• • Signed off on CenterPoint Energy’s settlement with Houston and other cities to recover nearly $1.1 billion in system restoration costs eligible for recovery and securitization after Hurricane Beryl and other storms in 2024. The PUC stripped $2.2 million in legal expenses and consulting fees from the agreement, deferring them until CenterPoint’s next ratemaking proceeding (58028).
  • Endorsed the suspension of $20.1 million in annual funding through 2030 for nuclear decommissioning costs related to Comanche Peak Power’s ownership interest in the Comanche Peak Nuclear Power Plant’s two units. The order also reduces the decommissioning costs to zero through 2030 (58193).