PUC and ERCOT outline Permian transmission options as Texas weighs 765 kV backbone

Senate Business and Commerce Committee Chair Charles Schwartner presided over a hearing where Thomas Gleason, chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC), and Woody Rickerson, senior vice president and chief operating officer of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), detailed transmission planning for the Permian Basin and statewide backbone options.

Gleason told the committee the PUC has been reviewing the regional transmission plan and that the agency will hold a stakeholder workshop on March 7 and deliberate in April. “If no decision is made, what was decided earlier in 2024 is if no decision to move to July is made, it will default to continuing with our March infrastructure,” Gleason said. He described the choice before the state as continuing to expand using 345 kV lines or moving to a 765 kV “backbone” to carry much…