BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – The House Committee on State Affairs will meet at 8 a.m. Wednesday, August 19, in room JHR 140 to hear invited and public testimony on two interim charges: the development of data centers in Texas and the regulatory and planning process behind proposed 765-kilovolt transmission lines.
Regarding data centers, the committee will study the industry’s importance to global competitiveness and national security, as well as the economic growth it could bring to Texas. Lawmakers also plan to examine education and training pathways to meet rising labor demand, review current regulations, and look at how data centers connect to the power grid under Senate Bill 6 and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’s Large Load Batch Study Process.
On transmission lines, the committee will review how the state plans for and regulates the proposed 765-kV lines.
Rep. Paul Dyson, who represents House District 14 in Brazos County, said the hearing will bring in industry and technical experts to lay the groundwork for legislation once lawmakers return to session.
“It’s about that background discussion and gets us prepared going into session so we can start working on our bills,” Dyson said, adding that bill drafts can be filed as early as the second week of November.
Dyson said some of his constituents in Brazos County own property along the proposed 765 kV routes and have raised concerns that the process has moved too quickly.
“People feel the process has been a little rushed, and we’re hearing that from our constituents,” Dyson said.
Texas A&M Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Prasad Enjeti said the push for higher-voltage lines is directly tied to the growing power needs of data centers.
“You need high voltages to carry that much power, which is probably caused by increasing demand on the data center loads,” Enjeti said.
Enjeti said data centers represent a new category of large electrical loads, some of which could draw gigawatts of power and are sensitive to grid disturbances.
“They could be in gigawatts of demand, right? So they represent a new class of large loads,” Enjeti said.
Texas set a record for power demand this summer, and Enjeti said requests for new data centers now exceed 400 gigawatts, though not all of those projects are expected to move forward.
Dyson said one of his top priorities heading into the next legislative session is making sure data center companies, not everyday Texans, cover the added costs to the power grid.
“We have to make sure that we are keeping those costs to where they should be borne, which is by the data centers coming in, and that Texans aren’t having to pay for a new industry that’s springing up,” Dyson said.
Texas residents who want to comment on either topic without testifying in person can submit electronic comments at comments.house.texas.gov until the hearing adjourns. In-person testimony may be limited to two minutes per witness, and registration closes at 10 a.m. the day of the hearing.
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