Dive Brief:
- ITC Holdings wants to build power lines in Texas, despite its bid to buy Entergy's transmission system collapsing last year.
- "Texas is a place we definitely want to do business," ITC VP of Grid Development Terry Harvill said. "The regulators are fair and ... Texas has proven they can get transmission built."
- ITC expects that both the Southwest Power Pool and the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, grid operators with footprints in Texas, will have transmission project opportunities starting later this year.
- ITC is not as sure that it would want to build transmission in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) footprint. ERCOT is a “different animal,” Harvill said.
Dive Insight:
ITC wants to grow and Texas offers a good opportunity for the company. In ITC's last earnings call, company officials said they were preparing for more competition from utilities that were increasingly focused on power line development. We'll be watching to see how transmission development in Texas shakes out.