DEL RIO, Texas – The Public Utility Commission of Texas has approved a route for the Howard to Solstice 765-kilovolt transmission line that runs through Val Verde County, rejecting arguments that the project should avoid land tied to a China-owned energy company, according to the commission’s final order.

The order in PUC Docket No. 59336, filed Sept. 18, amends the certificates of AEP Texas and CPS Energy, San Antonio’s city-owned utility, to build and run the single-circuit line across 14 counties, including Val Verde, Kinney, Uvalde, Edwards and Bexar, according to the order.

The Approved Route

Commissioners rejected the route recommended by administrative law judges and approved a modified version called Route 4 Mod 1, according to the order. The commission said the modified route is about 368.5 miles long and is estimated to cost about $2.15 billion, which is less than the original Route 4, and that it parallels more than 23.6 additional miles of existing transmission right-of-way.

The order gives the utilities until October 2028 to acquire right-of-way and land and sets a target of October 2030 to finish building the line, according to the commission.

China Land Concerns

Val Verde County residents raised concerns in the docket that the line could cross land owned by GH America Energy, a company majority-owned by a Chinese firm. In a public comment filed Sept. 8, Val Verde County landowner Randy Nunns said the company holds more than 110,000 acres in the county and argued that many proposed routes could cross its tracts, in probable violation of the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act, according to the filing.

The 2021 state law bars agreements that give companies owned by citizens or governments of China, Russia, Iran or North Korea access to or control of critical infrastructure such as the Texas power grid.

The commission did not agree that the law blocked any route. Intervenors argued the application was defective because the utilities did not assess possible violations of the law, but the record contains no confirmed landowners affected by the act and no evidence of a verified violation, according to the order. The commission concluded the law does not disqualify any route.

Federal Court Ruling

GH America Energy has its own fight with the law in federal court. The company sued officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas in June 2024 after ERCOT canceled its Blue Star Solar Project’s interconnection request in Val Verde County under the act, according to a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion.

On Oct. 16, the Fifth Circuit upheld the dismissal of the company’s claim that federal foreign investment rules override the Texas law, according to the opinion in GH America Energy v. Fohn, No. 25-50879. The court noted that the U.S. Department of Defense had earlier objected to some of the company’s renewable energy projects because of their proximity to Laughlin Air Force Base.

Val Verde County was one of the parties in the PUC case, according to the order.

Read our earlier coverage: Val Verde County Approves Record Paving Loan And Laughlin Air Force Base Grant Request

Sources: PUC final order, Docket 59336 | Public comment filed Sept. 8 in Docket 59336 | Fifth Circuit opinion, GH America Energy v. Fohn