The Permian Powers Texas.
Texas Must Power the Permian.
The Permian Basin Reliability Plan is a commitment Texas made to secure its economic future and America’s energy security. Join us in ensuring the promise made by the Texas Legislature is kept, and the PUCT makes timely routing and permitting decisions.
No region matters more to the future of Texas or the security of our nation.
West Texas is growing and our infrastructure must keep up to meet demand. Between 2012 and 2022, West Texas added nearly 40,000 new jobs.
To address growth in our region, the Texas Legislature overwhelmingly passed House Bill 5066 in 2023, directing the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to develop a plan to address insufficient transmission capacity and forecasted electrical load in the region. The need is documented, the plan is approved, and the consequences of further delay are too significant for West Texas.
the issue
The most productive energy region in the world is running on self-generated electricity, powered by on-site generation.
The Permian Basin is an economic powerhouse in Texas and the most productive energy region on earth.
A thriving West Texas supports our entire state.
Community Impact
Without a firm commitment to invest in infrastructure for this region, continued growth will be jeopardized. These decisions reach beyond oil and gas. They impact every family who calls West Texas home.
- Between 2012 and 2022, Midland alone grew by 16%, outpacing state projections for the same time period.
Source: Texas Comptroller 2024 Regional Report - Between 2012 and 2022, West Texas added nearly 40,000 new jobs.
Source: Texas Comptroller 2024 Regional Report - Enrollment in the region’s largest community college and largest university – Odessa College and Angelo State University – spiked by 20% and 9.3% between 2019 and 2023, respectively.
Source: Texas Comptroller 2024 Regional Report - The University of Texas Permian Basin and Midland College contribute crucial economic benefits to the region, generated by student and visitor spending, research, and graduate contributions in the area. Midland College recently received a $20 million grant from the Scharbauer Foundation to support the construction of the new Applied Technology Complex, allowing the institution to serve more than 700 additional applied technology students annually, contributing to a growing workforce across the region.
Source: Economic Impact of The University of Texas Permian Basin, Midland College News - Investment in the Permian continues to be instrumental in the development of major expansions in rural healthcare access. The Beacon, the region’s first center specializing in behavioral health, is a new state-of-the-art facility focusing on patient care, innovation, education, and workforce development for West Texans.
Source: Permian Strategic Partnership
- The Permian Strategic Partnership announced a $10 million investment in the Ector County Independent School District Career Technical Education center to provide students with hands-on experience in fields such as energy, healthcare, welding, automotive collision, and culinary arts.
Source: Permian Strategic Partnership - In November 2023, Midland voters approved a $1.4 billion school bond for Midland ISD to address major growth and add additional investment for high-quality public education in the Permian Basin. In 2025, Midland ISD surpassed an enrollment of 29,300 students.
Source: Midland ISD - Industry leaders financially supported the creation of Pathway Academy, an innovative public charter school, expanding access to high-quality education to 300 students in grades 7 through 12.
Source: Permian Strategic Partnership - Commercial energy expansion throughout the region has generated continued economic growth, with Midland routinely ranking as the city with the lowest unemployment rate in the state.
Source: City of Midland
Meeting the Demand
For years, West Texas has operated under power constraints, forced to self-generate power through on-site generators because adequate transmission infrastructure has not been built. Since 2018, multiple studies by various entities have been conducted and analyzed, demonstrating the immense and immediate need for additional electrification of West Texas to support the region’s growth:
- The Permian Basin is the most prolific oil-producing region in North America and ranks among the top five basins in the world. Oil production stands at roughly 5 million barrels per day and is forecast to reach about 7.1 million barrels per day by 2036.
Source: S&P Global Study: “Electrification of the Permian Basin” pg. 14 - Producing and moving that volume requires power, and the industry is shifting operations that have historically run on diesel and natural gas onto line power. Today, about 4,200 megawatts of oil and gas industrial load is connected to the grid, meeting only about one-third of what current operations require.
Source: S&P Global Study: “Electrification of the Permian Basin” pg. 4 - Closing this gap means roughly quadrupling grid load, from 4,200 megawatts in 2022 to 17,200 megawatts by 2032. Of that total, 11,900 megawatts fall within the ERCOT system in Texas.
Source: S&P Global Study: “Electrification of the Permian Basin” pg. 5 - Grid connections are not being built fast enough to meet this demand. In recent years, the Permian Basin has added 300 to 350 megawatts of load per year.
Source: S&P Global Study: “Electrification of the Permian Basin” pg. 57
- Meeting the forecast requires roughly 1,500 megawatts per year, a three to four-fold acceleration sustained over the next several years. If the historical pace continues instead, less than half of the needed grid connection, 46%, will be in place by 2032.
Source: S&P Global Study: “Electrification of the Permian Basin” pg. 6 - Currently, only a third of the basin’s 12.2 gigawatt grid connection requests are being met.
Source: S&P Global Study: “Electrification of the Permian Basin” pg. 38 - The Permian’s Delaware Basin will account for roughly 75% of future load demand, driven by production outlooks double those of the Midland Basin and higher associated gas/water ratios requiring more power to handle and transport.
Source: S&P Global Study: “Electrification of the Permian Basin” pg. 5 - ERCOT’s projections show the need for additional electricity in the Permian, with more than 26,000 megawatts needed by 2038.
Source: ERCOT Permian Basin Reliability Plan Study Pg. iii
Industry In The Permian
This growth translates directly to new jobs, more tax revenue for the state and local communities, and better opportunities for Texans who live and work here. A thriving West Texas supports our entire state.
- Generates nearly 8% of Texas’ private-sector GDP.
Source: Permian Strategic Partnership’s 2023 Economic Impact Report - Produces nearly half of all crude oil in the United States.
Source: Permian Strategic Partnership’s 2025 Economic Impact Report
- Has been a major contributor to the Texas Rainy Day Fund, now exceeding $27 billion.
Source: Permian Strategic Partnership’s 2022 Economic Impact Report - Is projected to generate approximately $366 billion in gross product impact by 2050.
Source: Permian Strategic Partnership’s 2023 Economic Impact Report
West Texas demand remains relatively stable until the onset of the shale boom. Since then, the need for reliable grid power grows significantly.
Power managers for Permian based oil and gas assets meet to discuss future power needs, share best practices, and problem solve interconnection lag. Ultimately oil and gas CEOs decide to update the IHS Markit study “West Texas Forecasted Load Additions: Permian Basin” originally commissioned by Oncor in 2018 and finalized April 2020.
S&P Global (previously IHS Markit) releases “Electrification of the Permian Basin” study, highlighting the load growth and power infrastructure build-out needed to meet growing capacity in West Texas.
HB 5066 is overwhelmingly passed in the Texas House and Senate and signed into law, requiring the PUCT to develop a reliability plan for the Permian Basin.
ERCOT completes a study and issues the Permian Basin Reliability Plan, noting “unprecedented load growth” in the region and the need for additional electrification and transmission, forecasting through 2038.
The PUCT approves the Permian Basin Reliability Plan, including essential transmission lines to secure future electricity reliability in the Permian.
The PUCT approves the 765-kV option for the Permian import paths. The industry is neutral on voltage but bullish on timing.
Individual transmission line projects begin public input through the CCN process as required by the PUCT.
Full CCN applications are filed for specific transmission segments. Public input periods, intervention deadlines, prehearing conferences, and route hearings are underway.
Permian and West Texas power demand is expected to rise 61% to 26,700 megawatts.
Timeline
A Look at the Progress
Texas follows a transparent, multi-stage regulatory process for electric transmission line projects. ERCOT performs comprehensive reliability assessments and actively gathers input through open stakeholder meetings and formal comment periods.
The Public Utility Commission exercises oversight by approving plans and determining specifications, including voltage levels. Individual line segments advance via public Certificate of Convenience and Necessity (CCN) applications that provide formal landowner notice, environmental and routing evaluations, opportunities for intervention and testimony, and hearings.
The proposed transmission lines have adhered fully to this established process, incorporating stakeholder engagement and public feedback throughout. Additionally, the Permian Basin Reliability Plan was discussed and deliberated publicly through the legislative process when HB 5066 was considered and ultimately passed.
By standing together, we can affirm strong support for the timely completion of the Permian Basin Reliability Plan.
Get Involved
Stand With West Texas
The Permian Basin powers Texas. Now is the moment for Texas to power the Permian — responsibly, transparently, and without delay. By standing together, we can affirm strong support for the timely completion of the Permian Basin Reliability Plan, champion responsible development, ensure decision-makers at the PUCT, ERCOT, and the Texas Legislature hear a clear, unified voice from the industry and communities that depend on the Permian’s success, and deter efforts to undermine legislation that was designed to protect Texas’ economic engine.
Take action today.
Myth vs Fact
Setting the Record Straight
Opposition to the plan relies on claims that do not hold up to the facts. Here is what the record shows:
Bringing power to the Permian Basin is like “hauling water to the ocean.”
For years, the West Texas oil and gas industry has operated under power constraints, forced to self-generate much of its power through on-site generators because adequate transmission infrastructure has not been built. Electricity demand is rising sharply and use in the region is projected to more than double within the next decade — from roughly 11,000 megawatts today to nearly 24,000 megawatts by 2030 and more than 26,000 megawatts by 2038. Industry has been sounding the alarm for years on the need for state investment to meet future demand and keep West Texas the most productive energy region in the world.
Building gas energy generation in West Texas gets the same outcome, without the need for transmission lines.
Generation and transmission are not competing solutions. New generation alone will not improve Texas’ grid resilience and reliability if there’s no transmission to move the power. This would be akin to building a water plant without any pipes. A transmission plan, as directed by HB 5066, will encourage further investment and add generation in West Texas. A reliable grid requires both.
The PUCT’s plan is a ploy to reduce emissions and rely too heavily on wind and solar power.
The PUCT does not regulate emissions inventories. Businesses in Texas engage in Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) to develop access to power on favorable commercial terms. Deregulation of the ERCOT market occurred in 1999 and any leanings toward one generation source or another are market design questions for policymakers and have no bearing on the Permian Basin Reliability Plan.
Siting dispatchable generation in and around the Permian Basin – closer to demand – could help achieve Texas’s energy reliability needs with fewer land-use impacts and lower costs to ratepayers.
Texas businesses operate in a free market economy, with regulatory certainty. Companies developing generation assets make decisions based on numerous factors when determining where to site power plants. The Texas miracle has long given companies the ability to make their own business decisions and it has led to the eighth largest economy in the world. The Permian Basin is the most productive energy region, generating nearly 8% of Texas’ private-sector GDP and produces nearly half of all crude oil in the United States.
Texas regulators approved a plan that was never voted on in the Texas legislature.
The Permian Basin Reliability Plan approved by the PUCT ultimately sited three 765-kV lines. This plan was developed based on direction from the Texas Legislature through HB 5066. The PUCT is also currently evaluating the TX 765-kV Strategic Transmission Expansion Plan (STEP). These are distinct and separate processes at the PUCT.
The Permian Basin Reliability Plan is a $30-40 billion power grab.
The October 7, 2024, PUCT order for the Permian Basin Reliability Plan approved both the 345-kV and 765-kV transmission import paths proposed in ERCOT’ s Permian Basin Reliability Plan Study. The order specified that by May 1, 2025, the Commission would decide whether “to move forward with allowing TSPs to build 765-kV transmission in the ERCOT region.” In January 2025, ERCOT filed a comparison document which assessed relative reliability and economic benefits of the plan utilizing two different transmission voltages — one with 345-kV and one with 765-kV. The public was asked to provide input. After planning, routing, and building, transmission rates will be determined when the transmission service providers defend their costs in a legally-bound rate case at the PUCT.
This investment only benefits large industrial consumers and transmission companies, not Texas families and small businesses.
The Permian Basin is home to 1.6% of the state’s population but contributes 7.7% of the state’s private sector GDP and boasts 698,277 jobs. Texas families and small businesses proudly work in and support the oil and gas industry in the Permian Basin. West Texas families, schools, hospitals, and the industries that power Texas must be able to rely on consistent electricity to live, work, and propel the state’s economic engine. We wouldn’t expect people in Dallas or Houston or Austin to self-generate power for their businesses, and the Permian Basin is no different. The current wait time for business interconnection is an average of 2.5 years. This is unsustainable for an economy as essential as oil and gas production is to the state and nation.
Texas lawmakers passed legislation in 2023 to speed the integration of new power generation into the electric grid. But that effort has since ballooned into a much larger statewide transmission buildout, with no consideration for building new reliable electrical generation alongside these lines.
In 2023 the legislature did both by establishing the Texas Energy Fund to incentivize generation and direct the study of a plan for the Permian Basin to address transmission infrastructure needs. The Strategic Transmission Expansion Plan (STEP) is a separate statewide transmission project, as would be the development of mandated thermal generation.
ERCOT only used the oil and gas industry study instead of its own that projected less demand to make decisions about the path forward.
ERCOT’s projections show Texas electricity demand nearly doubling by 2030, especially as industries in the Permian continue to grow to meet economic demand in Texas and across the United States. Investment is crucial to Texas’ long-term prosperity and national security. Furthermore, the transmission planning process requires customers, in this case oil and gas companies, to provide a third-party study evaluating and cataloging load and interconnection need. Providing the S&P study was not only a prudent mechanism to detail data to policymakers and planners, but it also what is required in the ERCOT transmission planning process.
The need for transmission projects in West Texas was not appropriately studied before the legislature voted.
Load needs for West Texas have been well documented and made public, including a recent presentation by ERCOT planners. ERCOT noted that while significant new transmission projects are coming to the Far West area, the load growth in the area may occur faster than the incremental import capacity added, which may result in pre-emptive load shed to avoid widespread outages as early as summer. Additionally, Texas lawmakers overwhelmingly passed HB 5066, and Governor Abbott signed the bill into law — an indication of how much this transmission infrastructure is needed to spur and continue growth.
The PUCT is rushing the CCN process and landowners are intentionally in the dark.
In 2023, the Legislature shortened the process to an 180-day window for the PUCT to approve or deny a CCN application. The Permian Basin Reliability Plan is moving through the process as the law dictates and requires.
Increasing transmission capacity without increasing energy generation falls short of the solutions discussed in the aftermath of Winter Storm Uri.
The PUCT was directed by the Texas Legislature through SB 2627 in 2023 to administer the Texas Energy Fund. The Texas Energy Fund provides grants and loans to finance the construction, maintenance, and modernization of electric facilities in Texas. Since its launch in 2024, the fund has allocated $3.65 billion for loans to support 4,994 megawatts of new, reliable power generation. Two of the eight planned power plants are in West Texas. This, coupled with the Permian Basin Reliability Plan, allows for generation assets and transmission planning to occur simultaneously in the deregulated market.
Oil and gas companies only want the Permian Basin Reliability Plan to support their data center deals.
Data centers are coming to Texas and, in many communities, are already here. Governor Abbott directed the PUCT to protect residential ratepayers from the cost of data center expansion and address their power needs. In many cases, data center projects may have excess power to put back on the grid. In areas like West Texas, this could be a driver for new dispatchable generation.
West Texas doesn’t need 765-kV transmission lines. Utilities should instead focus on energizing local projects in the Permian Basin.
The Permian Basin Reliability Plan includes two types of transmission projects: local projects consisting of 138-kV and 345-kV transmission lines and other upgrades to improve power flow at the community level, and import paths to transport large amounts of power across the state. The local projects help move power around West Texas while import paths allow local projects to be energized by bringing more power into West Texas. Similar to roadway improvements in recent years, main interstates and state highways are both needed to move cars. Funding I-20 improvements and Texas State Highways like 158, 191, and 302 were critical to ensure adequate infrastructure for existing traffic.
Resources
Stay Up to Date
- Power West Texas
Texas industry groups sent a joint letter to Governor Abbott, Lt. Governor Patrick, and Speaker Burrows on the needed implementation of the Permian Basin Reliability Plan (PBRP) for the state’s reliability and affordability goals.
- Power West Texas
By more than 4-to-1, West Texas voters approve of new transmission lines. MIDLAND, TX – Today, Power West Texas released the results of a poll of likely West Texas voters, revealing informed voters strongly favor the plan to build new transmission lines to serve the Permian Basin. The poll, which was conducted from July 23-26, […]
- Power West Texas
MIDLAND, TX – Power West Texas, a campaign representing the region most directly affected by delays in building electric transmission capacity, launched today to voice strong support for the timely completion of the Permian Basin Reliability Plan. The Permian Basin Reliability Plan was put in motion by the Texas Legislature in 2023 through House Bill […]