Dive Brief:

• ​The Tres Amigas Superstation that aims to unify the nation's three electric power grids is on track to be operational in 2016, the company's president, David Stidham, said earlier this week.
• Stidham said the company has half of the $550 million needed to begin the project near Clovis, New Mexico, and hopes to have the other half by January. Groundbreaking is anticipated in the fist quarter. 
• The project would tie together the Eastern Interconnection, the Western Interconnection and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid and facilitate the transfer of renewable energy among the regions. This year, it signed interconnection agreements with Xcel Energy and PNM Resources. 

Here is a graphic depicting the unified grids. Click to enlarge.

Dive Insight: 

In reply to a question at a conference, Stidham said ERCOT is now on board with the project. If that is so, it is very good news for the superhub. Support from Texas policymakers is critical to the projects' business plan and until now, sentiment had been running against interconnecting with Tres Amigas.