The proposed resiliency and reliability transmission projects in southeast Texas could deliver major economic benefits, including adding more than $18 billion per year to the state’s economy, generating some $120 million per year in local property taxes, and creating roughly 41,000 jobs during construction, according to a new CenterPoint Energy Inc. study released Aug. 13.
“Together, we can build a more resilient, reliable and affordable energy future and add tens of thousands of jobs, and billions in economic growth for our local Texas communities,” said Jason Ryan, CenterPoint Energy’s executive vice president of regulatory services and government affairs. “These transmission improvement projects will not only be built by Texans, for Texas, they could provide hundreds of millions of dollars in new tax revenue to support our local schools, first responders and other vital public services across our great state.”
The company’s economic impact study of Texas transmission projects — conducted by IdeaSmiths LLC, an independent energy systems analysis and advisory firm — is entitled Economic Impacts of 765kV Transmission Development in Support of Texas and Houston-Area Reliability, and uses electric grid capacity expansion modeling and regional economic impact analysis to evaluate how the projects could provide such economic benefits…