Portfolio: Texas $6 Million Miles: Ambitious Transmission Plan Ahead
In NAPE Magazine's Summit/Winter 2026
For the NAPE Magazine Winter Summit 2026 edition, I discuss an ambitious transmission plan known as the “Permian Basin Reliability Plan” being staged in Texas. However, the first twenty-first-century tracks were laid with Texas CREZ lines a decade earlier. That plan connected wind-swept regions to demand centers. Trouble was, it did not go far enough to meet Texas’ growth—in population, industrial development, oil and gas resources, more solar and wind resources, and now data centers.
Access feature here. Go to page 45.
At the NAPE Summit and Expo 2026, the transmission part of the energy equation was little discussed. Given the early days of the Texas plans, many stakeholder groups are weighing in —landowners, lawyers, state representatives and NGOs.
While the plan for high-voltage transmission seems like an imperative, my final takeaway of lines being built and prioritized where they are needed rings true. With new large loads in need of connection and more robust wires, new thinking may emerge— though incentives to build transmission don’t necessarily follow newly emerging market imperatives.
This feature is a sequel to an earlier work called “Texas Million Dollar Miles.” This predecessor work is an example of what this platform will offer ahead but in today’s much-changed context.
In the piece, the intricacies of connecting transmission to demand centers is discussed and some set up unique to the Texas economy. In order to see where we are going, you need to also look at where we’ve been. Read it below:
