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A public index of the projects reshaping the Texas grid: the largest 765 kV transmission builds and the largest data-center and large-load campuses now under way. Every figure sourced and dated. Freely available, no registration required.
This index ranks the largest active projects in two categories, transmission and large-load, most significant first. It is a public companion to the Churchill Hughes gated intelligence library, which sets out the compensation, hiring demand and talent-supply detail behind these headlines.
Transmission costs and mileage are anchored to ERCOT planning documents, PUCT filings and sponsor-utility releases; several 765 kV segments have public endpoints but no disclosed line-level cost. Large-load capacities are developer-announced full-build-out figures, and actual energised megawatts are usually a fraction of the headline. The ~226-438 GW queue figures are gross interconnection requests, not committed load.
ERCOT 2025 Report on Existing and Potential Electric System Constraints and Needs (Dec 2025); RTO Insider (Dec 2025); Houston Public Media (Jun 2026).
| Project | Sponsor | Scale | Status / in-service |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas 765 kV STEP (full) | ERCOT (multi-utility) | ~2,468 mi 765 kV, ~$32.99B | First ~$9B slice approved Dec 2025; phased 2030s |
| 765 kV Eastern Backbone | AEP, CPS, Oncor, CenterPoint | ~1,109 mi, ~$9.384B | ERCOT-approved Dec 2025; in-service 2030-2032 |
| Permian Basin Reliability Plan | Oncor, AEP Texas, LCRA | 3x765 + 5x345 kV, ~$13.8B | 765 kV paths ordered 24 Apr 2025 |
| Big Hill-Sand Lake 765 kV | LCRA TSC + Oncor | ~177-197 mi 765 kV | PUCT decision ~Jul 2026; energised by 2030 |
| Howard-Solstice 765 kV | AEP Texas | ~300 mi 765 kV | PUCT-approved Apr 2025; in development |
| Drill Hole-Sand Lake-Solstice 765 kV | Oncor + AEPSC | ~104 mi, ~$742M | ERCOT recommendation Dec 2025 |
| Longshore-Drill Hole 765 kV | Oncor | ~160 mi 765 kV | CCN filed at PUCT 11 Dec 2025 |
| CenterPoint 3rd Houston 765 kV import | CenterPoint Energy | 765 kV, part of $65B+ plan | Filed Jan 2026; backs ~10 GW load growth |
ERCOT Board Items 14.1 / 14.2 (Dec 2025); PUCT news release (Apr 2025); Utility Dive (2025-2026); Oncor, AEP Texas, LCRA, CenterPoint releases (2025-2026).
| Project | Developer | Scale | Status / energisation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fermi HyperGrid / Project Matador | Fermi America + Texas Tech | up to 11 GW, near Amarillo | First ~1 GW end-2026; full build ~2032 |
| Data City, Texas | Energy Abundance Dev. Corp | 5 GW, near Laredo | First 300 MW phase 2026 |
| Google Texas (3 sites) | $40B combined | Announced Nov 2025 | |
| Vantage Frontier | Vantage Data Centers | 1.4 GW, >$25B, Shackelford Co. | Under construction; first building H2 2026 |
| Stargate Abilene | OpenAI / Oracle / Crusoe | 1.2 GW, ~$12B | ~0.3 GW live since Sep 2025 |
| Tract Caldwell County | Tract | 2 GW, Austin-San Antonio | Initial 360 MW by 2028 |
| Microsoft Pecos | Microsoft | ~2 GW, West Texas | Announced Jun 2026 |
| Meta El Paso | Meta Platforms | ~1 GW, ~$10B | Operational 2028 |
| Streams San Antonio III | Streams + CPS Energy | 200 MW, $400M | 2025; dedicated 334 MW substation |
AI-campus plans move fast and some slip: the 2 GW Poolside / CoreWeave West Texas project, widely reported in 2025, had its anchor contract terminated in 2026. Headline megawatts are announcements, not energised load, which is exactly why sequencing the real build matters.
Fermi America / PR Newswire (Nov 2025); Crusoe / OpenAI (2025-2026); Vantage (Aug 2025); Meta / El Paso Matters (2025-2026); Blackridge Research / Mercator (2025-2026).
Every project in this index is delivered by people: interconnection and studies engineers, transmission line and substation designers, protection & control specialists, commissioning engineers, and the project directors who lead them. They are in the shortest supply of the entire build-out.
Churchill Hughes is a focused executive search firm for senior leadership across the ERCOT transmission and power-infrastructure build-out: grid interconnection, transmission, substations, protection & control, commissioning, power delivery and BESS. Every figure in this report is drawn from the same market intelligence we use on live searches.
The gated Churchill Hughes intelligence library goes behind this index: compensation benchmarks by role and seniority, the interconnection and large-load queue detail, the transmission and substation build, BESS economics, and the talent-supply squeeze across each. One registration unlocks all of it.
To discuss any figure in this report, benchmark a role you are hiring for, or pressure-test an offer before it goes out, contact James Hughes at office@churchillhughes.com. The conversation is free. The hiring mistakes it prevents usually are not.