transmission line

Electric grid managers say Texas needs more transmission. But the new power lines were opposed by rural landowners, opponents of renewable energy and many state politicians.

Energy regulators and industry experts warn that the state’s delays to major projects amid backlash from residents could create rolling blackouts and strangle growth of other industries that need power.

The state's power grid operator had already planned on auditing several data center proposals, but Abbott's directive reworks the timeline and adds new requirements.

Oklahomans are reporting sticker shock at the mailbox when opening their electric bills this summer. While artificial intelligence and the data centers needed to support them have become major subjects of public discourse, state lawmakers and regulators say they are only one part of a much larger explanation.

A plan to build a network of 765 kV transmission lines to bolster the state's power grid has come under intense opposition from landowners in its path and others.

Speaker of the House Dan Hawkins and Rep. Leo Delperdang, Republican chair of the House Committee on Energy, Utilities and Telecommunications, submitted a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, expressing concerns about maintaining competition and avoiding monopolies.

The 345-kV transmission line will begin at the Buffalo Flats Substation near Garden Plain, Kansas, and end at the Delaware Substation near Delaware, Oklahoma. It will cross through western Sedgwick, Sumner, Cowley and Chautauqua counties.

Kansas utility regulators are weighing the benefits and costs of approving construction of a $493 million transmission line that would travel through four southwest counties.

Oil and gas companies have said the region needs more power. Environmentalists and a conservative think tank worry the state is moving too fast — and ratepayers will see the costs in their bills.

Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt, authored Senate Bill 1929, which passed the Senate Committee on Energy on Thursday.