Dive Brief:

• Electric Transmission Texas – a joint venture between American Electric Power and MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. – has brought online the last of seven 345-kV transmission projects connected with the Competitive Renewable Energy Zones (CREZ) initiative in west Texas.
• As part of the CREZ initiative, transmission companies spent about $1.5 billion building 2,400 miles of transmission lines to carry 18,500 MW of wind from west Texas to load centers in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) footprint.

Dive Insight:

Texas has about 12,200 MW of wind, the most of any state, according to the American Wind Energy Association. Texas has also far surpassed its renewable portfolio standard of 5,880 MW by 2015, showing how an RPS isn't the only reason renewable projects get built. Building the CREZ lines was driven by policy decisions at the Texas Public Utilities Commission.