The U.S. Department of Energy announced investment into a new HVDC line in Texas; Southern Spirit. The new 320-mile HVDC line would connect the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid with the electric grids in the southeastern U.S. power markets, including Midcontinent Independent System Operator South (MISO-S) and Southern Company (SOCO). The DOE noted the goal is to “prevent outages during extreme weather events, like Winter Storm Uri that hit Texas in 2022.” The line will cross Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi and will provide 3 GW of bidirectional capacity. The contract has a potential value of up to $360m.
Public Utility Commission Chair Thomas Gleeson released the following statement after the DOE’s announcement:
“While the Southern Spirit Transmission line would cross multiple state lines, the Texas grid will remain independent from the national grid and would not be subject to any federal oversight. In fact, there are already similar direct current ties in Texas, and they do not have any impact on the independence of the Texas grid.”
The National Transmission Planning Study will be holding a webinar to discuss interregional transmission planning on Wednesday, October 16th from 3:15 to 4:30 pm ET. Registration for this event can be found here.