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By RGG Business Journal Staff
WESLACO, Texas — Marking a historic milestone for regional utility leadership, Adrian Rodriguez made his first official visit to the Rio Grande Valley as president of AEP Texas on Oct. 1, attending a meet-and-greet hosted by the Rio Grande Valley Partnership at Arturo’s Bar & Grill in Weslaco.
State Rep. Armando Martinez, D-Weslaco, who introduced Rodriguez to an audience of South Texas civic and business leaders, emphasized the significance of the occasion, noting that it was the first time a sitting president of AEP Texas had ever visited the Rio Grande Valley to engage directly with local community stakeholders.
In his remarks,, Rodriguez confirmed the historical context and offered an apology for the long-standing absence of top-level corporate presence in the region.
“To say that this is the first time that somebody with this role has been here—that is something that I’m very keen on making sure that we address,” Rodriguez told the gathering. “I certainly hope that the people… on our team can at least to some extent fill that void that I get the benefit of being here to say that I’m the president of AEP Texas.”
Rodriguez, who took over as president of AEP Texas six months ago, shared his background as a former utility lawyer whose career spans major Texas and national power providers, including Oncor Electric Delivery Company, CPS Energy, Lubbock Power and Light, El Paso Electric Company, Puget Sound Energy, and Xcel Energy’s Southwestern Public Service Company.
Throughout his career, Rodriguez noted, he has focused on advocating for regions outside the major metropolitan centers.
“Where I’m honored to be able to serve communities from Victoria out to Marfa, San Angelo, Abilene, Childress, and of course Laredo, Corpus Christi, and the Rio Grande Valley, and all the communities that are here from Cameron and Hidalgo counties—these were places that don’t always necessarily have the voice of that Texas Triangle that people talk about, from Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston to San Antonio and Austin,” Rodriguez said. “They always talk about this Texas Triangle, but the last I checked, the Rio Grande and people from this region are Texans too.”
Rodriguez emphasized that maintaining robust grid infrastructure in South Texas is essential to supporting statewide expansion.
“Our ability to bring power and take advantage of the transmission lines that we’re building across the state are important to remember that the businesses and the communities that are here are still growing,” Rodriguez added. “They’re a key part of our growth in the state, and I’m honored to be a part of it by helping bring that power to you.”
Local Leaders Highlight Infrastructure Needs
Following the event, The Rio Grande Guardian International News Service secured an exclusive interview with Rep. Martinez, who reflected on the Valley’s historical challenges regarding power infrastructure and praised Rodriguez’s proactive approach.
“One thing that we have always noticed is the Rio Grande Valley has always been left behind or forgotten,” Martinez told the Guardian. “Our Valley delegation has done an amazing job in really promoting the Valley and the growth of the Valley—one of the largest growing areas in the state. Today, we had the honor of having the president of AEP Texas come and visit us and talk to us about the needs and capacity issues, and really making sure we have power reliability down here in the Rio Grande Valley.”
Martinez referenced past severe weather events, including Winter Storm Uri, noting that local government officials—including Hidalgo County Judge Richard F. Cortez and numerous area mayors—engaged in direct dialog with Rodriguez regarding backup power, line capacity, and landowner impacts.
“There’s always been a concern in the Valley on how do we keep the Valley connected to where our people don’t have to go through something like that,” Martinez said. “There are so many innovative projects… whether it’s LNG that’s going on in the Port of Brownsville, whether it’s manufacturing going on throughout all of our cities here throughout the communities, and this is an essential part to make sure that we’re connected.”
Martinez also addressed common public misconceptions regarding new transmission buildouts, clarifying that capacity expansion is focused on overall regional grid health and residential stability rather than dedicated industrial use.
“There’s a lot of misunderstanding, thinking that different power lines are used to power data centers and only for data centers, and that is not the case,” Martinez explained. “The main thing that what we gather from visiting with our AEP president was that they just want to make sure that we have power and that we have that reliability.”
“We don’t want rolling blackouts when it’s extremely hot,” Martinez added. “With growth, there’s a growing phase. And with that, we need to have people in the industries that have the knowledge, that have the engagement, and that have the desire to make sure that our people down here in the Rio Grande Valley are not left behind.”
Business and community leaders met with Adrian Rodriguez, president of AEP Texas, at an event hosted by the Rio Grande Valley Partnership. (Photo: RGG/Steve Taylor)
Statewide Transmission Expansion Under Scrutiny
Rodriguez’s engagement in Weslaco follows extensive testimony he delivered in late July before the Texas Senate Committee on Business & Commerce at the State Capitol in Austin.
Addressing state lawmakers, Rodriguez emphasized that rapid economic development across AEP Texas’s 97,000-square-mile service territory in South and West Texas is pushing existing transmission infrastructure to capacity.
“It’s not just the Permian Basin that is experiencing growth,” Rodriguez testified before the Senate committee. “In our own service territory for AEP Texas… we’re experiencing extraordinary growth. We have coastal refineries that are expanding, in the Rio Grande Valley we have liquefied natural gas terminals that are in progress, there’s significant growth in and around Laredo… Altogether, those projects… traditional Texas business, is what is driving the need for these transmission lines.”
Rodriguez highlighted major infrastructure undertakings currently underway, including the Howard to Solstice Transmission Line project developed in partnership with San Antonio-based CPS Energy, and discussed industry efforts to deploy high-capacity 765 kV transmission lines.
“Our sister companies have worked with 765 kV transmission lines since 1969, and there’s already thousands of miles of it in other states,” Rodriguez testified. “Primary because of the fact that we can move so much power on it and impacting fewer landowners than we would have otherwise if we had tried to transmit the same amount of power on equivalent 345 kV transmission lines.”
Rodriguez stressed that delays in regulatory approval and Certificate of Convenience and Necessity (CCN) applications risk exacerbating supply chain bottlenecks for critical electrical components.
“Transmission is not built for its own sake… We can’t have generation without transmission,” Rodriguez stated, reassuring lawmakers and landowners that utility companies are engaging communities early through open houses well ahead of formal CCN filings. “Our goal is to make sure that we have the necessary infrastructure available for our customers.”
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