Texas regulators on Thursday approved the first extra-high-voltage transmission lines on the state’s main power grid in a bid to better serve the oil-rich Permian Basin.

The new lines will carry twice the voltage of existing transmission infrastructure on the grid run by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT. The grid covers about 90 percent of the state. Despite their higher cost, state regulators on the Public Utility Commission found that the new lines would reduce congestion on the existing transmission system and prepare the state to meet booming demand from electrification of the oil fields and other load growth.

In all, the state found, building new 765-kilovolt lines, rather than the standard 345-kilovolt lines currently in use on the grid, could save the state money in the long run by avoiding future construction.

“This decision brings ERCOT into the 21st century,” Matthew Boms, executive director of the Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance, said in a statement. “As electricity demand surges, we need a grid that’s built for the future — reliable, efficient, and cost-effective. Today’s vote is a strong step toward that goal.”

The decision approved in a Thursday PUC vote comes as the state is grappling with intense load growth, especially in the Permian Basin in West Texas. According to ERCOT figures released in December 2024, demand in the region is expected to more than double from 10,500 megawatts in 2021 to nearly 24,000 MW in 2030. Of that, roughly half of demand will come from oil and gas, while the region will also add power-hungry data centers and cryptocurrency mines.

Another forecast released this month by ERCOT projects that overall grid peak demand could rise to as much as 218,000 MW by 2031, up from a demand record of 85,000 MW set last year.

While regulators and lawmakers have warned that it will be hard to meet that rapid increase in demand without new infrastructure, the Permian has been especially hard to serve because of a lack of existing transmission in the largely rural areas. That’s especially true as oil and gas producers move farther west into the Delaware Basin, a subregion of the Permian.

State legislators in 2023 instructed the PUC to study transmission and generation needs in the Permian. The analysis released last June outlined a variety of options to meet the load needs, but left open the decision on whether to build traditional 345-kV lines or upgrade to 765-kV lines.

ERCOT officials and equipment providers estimated that the extra-high-voltage plan could cost 22 percent more than the alternative because of the higher cost of equipment, even though it would require fewer lines to be built. In a statement Thursday, PUC Chair Thomas Gleeson said the body had voted in favor of the higher voltage lines because they would require “less disruption to Texas landowners, natural habitats and landscapes” and could prepare the grid for even more growth.

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