Energy Dept. wants Texas grid connected to others

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that a project linking the Texas power grid with those in the Southeast will receive a federal grant of up to $360 million — if it can overcome obstacles that has stalled it for years. The DOE’s investment is a drop in the bucket compared with the $2.6 billion cost of Pattern Energy’s Southern Spirit transmission line that would span 320 miles through Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. The high-voltage, direct current line would carry nuclear power from Mississippi to Dallas when needed and allow Texas to send wind and solar eastward when it has extra. The grant is among four awarded by the Department of Energy on Thursday with a total value of $1.5 billion. The projects are expected to improve power transmission across the country, but most notably in Texas, where the power grid nearly collapsed during a deadly 2021 winter storm. The grid also continues to be tested as Texas’ population has exploded and more extreme temperatures boost power consumption.

Southern Spirit will allow the Texas grid, managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, to remain free of federal regulation while providing insurance against blackouts. It also is expected to will create 850 construction jobs and 305 permanent positions, the Energy Department said. But a complicated permit process as well as opposition from landowners and lawmakers in Louisiana and Mississippi have held up the project, which has been in the works for more than a decade. It got a boost this month with approval by the Louisiana Public Service Commission.