WEST TEXAS — Companies American Electric Power (AEP) and CPS Energy are currently soliciting public feedback on the construction of a brand-new 765 kilovolt (kV) power line that will run from San Antonio to just outside of Fort Stockton, passing beneath I-10 through rural parts of the Hill Country and the Trans-Pecos.
The new route is one of three that will be constructed across the state with the goal of shoring up electrical reliability in the Permian Basin. The plans were prompted by House Bill 5066, legislation passed in 2023 that directed the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to work with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to develop an electric reliability plan for the Permian.
The projects mark the introduction of massive 765kV lines to Texas — “extra high-voltage” infrastructure AEP has already erected in other states. Newer power lines built by AEP in the Big Bend region are 138kV and require 100-foot right of ways, for comparison. The 765kV lines are projected to be anywhere from 140 to 160 feet tall and require 200-foot right of ways. AEP External Affairs Manager Fred Guerrero said the new West Texas transmission line is being pursued to improve reliability and capacity for future economic growth and development.
“We have an influx of new developments, new load requests throughout the state,” Guerrero said. “This is like you’re taking the two-lane highway and you’re turning it into a six-lane interstate.”
The “Howard-Solstice” transmission line project, the southernmost of the new power lines, will run from San Antonio to the Solstice substation — which will also see a large increase in footprint and security, according to Guerrero — outside of Fort Stockton, where Hovey Road meets I-10. Because the project is in a planning phase, the energy companies are proposing innumerable potential routes, none of which extend into the tri-county region.
“They’re just trying to figure out the best route with the least amount of environmental impact, the least amount of landowner impact,” Guerrero said.
Four community open houses were hosted — two by CPS Energy in Atascosa and Uvalde and two by AEP in Del Rio and Fort Stockton — this month. The deadline to submit public feedback is September 3.
Travis Dimler, who lives and works on a ranch in the Glass Mountains in northern Brewster County, penned a letter to the editor on his own behalf in this week’s Big Bend Sentinel opposing the project. Dimler told The Sentinel in a follow-up interview he hopes area residents will take notice and make their voices heard on the issue. A copy of the letter that Dimler posted on Instagram had garnered 8,500 views, he said.
Dimler worries that the new transmission line, while not directly passing through the Big Bend, will open up the opportunity for more energy development in the area. He said he is aware of energy companies actively securing leases and seeking additional acreage in Brewster County, and the development needs to be curtailed in favor of preserving the area’s natural beauty.
“There’s some things that you just protect at all costs. I believe West Texas is one of them,” Dimler said. “To continue to support a growing population and continue to expand energy is not incongruent with protecting some places. You don’t have to destroy it all.”
Dimler moved to the Big Bend from Borden County southeast of Lubbock and said he’s seen the harm energy development does to the native landscape. He is advocating for the route to be built as far north as possible and expressed frustration that it is not being built along the existing I-10 corridor — a route that is not even being considered.
“The litany of potential southern routes makes no sense even from an economic standpoint of building the thing,” Dimler said. “It’s obviously being lobbied for by private industry that wants to build projects in this area.”
Guerrero said that a route along I-10 is not being pursued due to existing infrastructure and the fact that the larger lines require larger easements. “I-10 is super congested with existing transmission structures right now,” Guerrero said. “There’s really no way for us to go along that route because the 765kV requires a 200-foot wide easement, so there’s just not enough room on I-10.”
AEP’s prescribed process for constructing a new transmission line involves sending letters out to impacted landowners and evoking eminent domain if necessary, though Guerrero notes that is very rare. He explained that while AEP does not directly “dictate” the locations of energy projects, companies often target areas near existing AEP substations.
Romey Swanson, executive director of the Devils River Conservancy, a non-profit working across several West Texas counties to protect the spring-fed river and its watershed, told The Sentinel that they have had representatives present for all four open houses held this month and are in the process of learning about the transmission line project and providing information to AEP and CPS.
Swanson said while the potential routes avoid existing conservation easements — partnerships with private landowners that help protect the river’s watershed — in the Devils River Basin, companies did not know, and therefore did not account for, planned conservation easements that could soon be in place. He said three proposed power line routes either intersect or are adjacent to planned conservation easements.
“There’s actually active conservation easement projects going on,” Swanson said. “So that before any route was to break dirt, there are several more projects that will likely be added to the conservation easement portfolio within the Devils River.”
Swanson said the conservancy notified the energy companies about the potential easements and an important compatible land use study that the Loughlin Airforce Base in Del Rio put out that demonstrates the conservation and cultural assets of Val Verde County, where the river’s headwaters are located.
He said the organization is working to make the power companies aware of the long history of land stewardship within the Devils River Basin and why they push hard against industrial development in order to protect the landscape and the state’s “most pristine” river.
Swanson said the conservancy intends to “advocate for a line that is least injurious across the entirety of the region,” recognizing that the project is broad sweeping and crosses several rural communities.
Projects of this scale take years to plan and construct. AEP’s current timeline includes filing its application — which will contain options for several different routes — with the PUC in February of 2026, with facilities in service by fall of 2030.
For more information or to submit a public comment, visit aeptransmission.com/texas/howard-solstice/