Texas is in the middle of a years-long conversation about how to generate energy to meet the need for speed: how will the state’s power grid serve fast-growing new loads and the economic benefits they bring?

The question of how we move electricity around our great state is just as important.

The Austin American Statesman on Sunday published an op-ed by Bryn Baker, the Texas Energy Buyers Alliance’s (TEBA’s) senior director of policy, that highlights the state’s profound opportunity to plan and invest in a transmission system that will meet the state’s 21 st century needs. She also notes the very real economic danger Texas will face if leaders don’t rise to this challenge.

And she outlines the steps Texas should take — including comprehensive long-range transmission planning and interim technological improvements that enhance the grid at a much lower cost — to affordably strengthen the transmission system in ways that create a foundation for future economic and electricity load growth.

Here’s an excerpt:

To plug new industries into the state’s power grid, Texas must plan for and create the most cost-efficient transmission system for Texans’ long-term needs.

Access to electricity is one of the first things employers look at when deciding where to build and hire. Keeping pace in the artificial intelligence arms race and growing the state’s manufacturing workforce requires the most reliable, affordable, and cost-efficient energy system possible.

A bigger, better grid will save money and make the grid more reliable for all Texas consumers.

To be sure, Texas needs an all-of-the-above energy strategy — building on the state’s leadership in oil and gas, solar and wind power, and technologies such as battery storage and modular nuclear power — to meet the energy needs of existing and future employers.

But legislators also must get electricity where it needs to go. That’s where transmission comes in.

The full piece is published here. Take a look.