Dr. Brent Bennett of the Texas Public Policy Foundation testifies before the Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee on the proposed 765 kV statewide transmission build-out. Bennett argues the plan was designed around an outdated assumption that Texas would keep building wind and solar far from demand centers, and urges the Public Utility Commission to pause the project until after the 90th Legislature.
He presents TPPF’s cost estimates: a $33 billion capital cost ballooning to nearly $100 billion over the project’s lifetime, or over $5,000 per residential ratepayer, along with an estimated $10 billion in uncompensated property value loss for landowners. Bennett draws a comparison to the CREZ transmission lines built to serve West Texas wind and solar, calling them a cautionary precedent, and calls for market reforms alongside a reassessment of the state’s generation mix before any further approval of the transmission lines.