Dive Brief:
- The Public Utility Commission of Texas on Thursday selected a route and authorized Entergy to develop the Southeast Texas Area Reliability Project, or SETEX, which includes a 145-mile, 500-kV transmission line and other associated equipment.
- Entergy Texas operates outside of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas grid that serves most of the Lone Star State. The SETEX project aims to boost reliability in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator footprint.
- The PUCT also on Thursday selected six projects to receive about $381 million in support from the Texas Energy Fund's Outside ERCOT Grant Program. Of the grants, Entergy could receive about $200 million.
Dive Insight:
Texas regulators have approved about $4 billion in Entergy investments in the last month. The utility serves approximately 524,000 customers.
In September, the commission approved a pair of new Entergy gas plants with a $2.4 billion price tag. And the SETEX project will reportedly cost an estimated $1.4 billion.
“Growth in Southeast Texas is creating incredible opportunities for the communities we serve, and it’s our responsibility to ensure we build a resilient power grid that supports long-term economic expansion and future energy needs,” Entergy Texas CEO Eliecer Viamontes said in a statement.
The SETEX project includes two new stations: the Babel Switching Station in Newton County and Running Bear Substation in Montgomery County, the company said. The transmission line will pass through Jasper, Montgomery, Newton, Polk, San Jacinto, Trinity, Tyler and Walker counties.
The route approved by regulators at Thursday’s open meeting will cross Lake Livingston, which had been a key point of debate.
MISO identified the SETEX project through its long-range planning process as critical to ensuring compliance with North American Electric Reliability Corp. baseline standards and the provision of reliable and cost-effective service as demand continues to grow, according to Entergy.
The selected route “affects the fewest number of habitable structures, has the lowest estimated cost of the focus routes, and was identified by Entergy as best meeting the criteria the Commission must consider,” PUCT Chairman Thomas Gleeson wrote in a memo ahead of the vote.
The PUCT also tapped six projects outside ERCOT to receive grants from the Texas Energy Fund. While the fund is best known for providing low-cost loans to support gas generation in ERCOT, it has multiple programs and the Outside ERCOT Grant Program provides funding for transmission and distribution infrastructure or electric generating facilities not in the organized Texas market.
The outside-ERCOT program “maybe didn’t get as much attention as the inside-ERCOT piece, but it is just as important,” Gleeson said.
Commissioner Kathleen Jackson noted that the grants are not final, and the PUCT and utilities must still reach execution agreements.
Entergy could receive over half the awards the commission approved yesterday, about $200 million.
“With these funds, the company will implement upgrades and replacements across the electrical system to improve resiliency and reliability — decreasing the number of customers impacted and the duration of outages following extreme events,” the utility said in a statement. Over 9,000 structures and about 400 line-miles of transmission and distribution will be hardened to address risks posed by hurricanes, wildfires and other events.
