The Texas Public Utility Commission last week approved modifications to proposed transmission lines necessary to integrate Lubbock Power & Light load into ERCOT (48909).

The approval came during the PUC’s open meeting Thursday, following a quick sidebar agreement between Oncor and the city of Lubbock over the project’s dividing point. The project will connect a 345-kV Oncor line with a 115-kV switchyard and line being built by LP&L.

Oncor’s portion of the project could cost as much as $84 million and LP&L’s portion $61.5 million. The municipality is on the hook for $30.2 million in switchyard costs.

The project is one of several needed to move 470 MW of Lubbock’s load from SPP to ERCOT. (See “LP&L Lines for ERCOT Integration near Final Approval,” Texas PUC Briefs: Sept. 12, 2019.)

In other actions, the PUC:

• approved Entergy’s request to amend its transmission cost recovery factor and recover $19.4 million (49874).
• was notified by Commissioner Arthur D’Andrea that he has directed outside counsel to intervene in a MISO docket at FERC related to the treatment of energy storage facilities as transmission assets (ER20-588). (See Despite Pushback, MISO Pursuing TO-only SATA.)

— Tom Kleckner