OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 29, 2026--
Black & Veatch today announced the successful completion of the “Three W Solar” project, a 150 MWdc (110 MWac) utility-scale solar generation facility developed for Mitsui & Co., LTD. (“Mitsui”), that could power as many as 45,000 homes. The project has achieved substantial completion and now received ERCOT approval, which is the final requirement that allows the facility to be connected to the Texas power grid. This final step also enables the final turnover to Mitsui’s operations and maintenance organization.
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Located on approximately 875 acres near Hillsboro, Texas, “Three W Solar” represents Mitsui’s first utility-scale solar project in the U.S. and a significant milestone in the company’s renewable energy strategy. Black & Veatch served as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor, delivering the solar generation facility and associated collector substation infrastructure.
“Energy diversification is becoming increasingly important as organizations position themselves for future growth and evolving power needs,” said Narsingh Chaudhary, president of Fuels & Natural Resources for Black & Veatch. “We are proud to support Mitsui’s energy strategy through the successful delivery of Three W Solar, a project that strengthens its energy portfolio and contributes to Texas’ growing generation capacity.”
Through close collaboration and project management since 2024, the team has successfully completed major milestones, including installation of all racking piles, delivery and installation of the generator step-up transformer, commissioning activities and ERCOT approvals required for commercial operation.
“Achieving this milestone means a more resilient power grid for communities in Texas and we are proud to be part of the next stage of renewable energy in the region,” said Senior Vice President and Divisional Operating Officer Shinya Umehara, MITSUI & CO. (U.S.A.) INC. “This represents a commitment to the communities in Texas looking at the future energy demands and the innovative response to the needs these demands present. We are thankful for Black & Veatch’s expertise and support throughout the entire project lifecycle.”
Three W Solar underscores Black & Veatch’s experience delivering turnkey EPC solutions across the renewable energy sector and strengthens the company’s growing relationship with Mitsui. As utilities, energy developers and industrial customers continue pursuing lower-carbon generation resources, utility-scale solar projects such as Three W Solar play an increasingly important role in supporting grid reliability and energy diversification.
“Three W Solar demonstrates how strategic investment in renewable generation can create long-term value for both energy providers and the communities they serve,” said Arron Lewis, renewables solution leader for Black & Veatch. “We are proud to have partnered with Mitsui to deliver its first U.S. utility scale solar project, combining together engineering, procurement and construction expertise to help bring reliable, renewable energy to the Texas market.”
About Black & Veatch
Black & Veatch is a 100-percent employee-owned global engineering, procurement, consulting and construction company with a more than 100-year track record of innovation in human critical infrastructure. Since 1915, we have helped our clients improve the lives of people around the world by addressing resilience and reliability of our most important infrastructure and energy assets. Learn more about us at the Black & Veatch newsroom, and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.
Aerial view of the "Three W Solar" utility-scale solar generation facility
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two federal indictments against President Donald Trump, will tell lawmakers on Tuesday that he “will not be silenced by continued threats of prosecution” from the Trump administration and that he believes the rule of law is being threatened like never before.
Smith will also tell the Senate Judiciary Committee that he stands behind the criminal cases that he brought against Trump, a Republican, and that he and his team acted without regard to politics.
“I made these decisions without regard to President Trump's political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election,” Smith will say, according to a copy of his prepared remarks. “Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal conduct. If asked whether to prosecute a former president based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether the president was a Republican or Democrat.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Republican chairman of the committee, said at the outset that the hearing will highlight the panel's investigation into Smith's “weaponized conduct" — an accusation that Smith, a career prosecutor who resigned his position last year, has repeatedly denied.
Even as Smith defends his investigations, he is expected to be pressed anew by Republican senators about his team's access to the phone records of GOP lawmakers as prosecutors investigated Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
In previous testimony, Smith has stood behind subpoenas that prosecutors issued for the phone records of Republican members of Congress who were in touch with Trump when violent supporters of the president rioted inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He has said that such subpoenas are a “common practice” in investigations and were necessary in this instance to understand the “scope of the conspiracy” between Trump and his Republican allies.
Nonetheless, the revelation that Smith's team secretly obtained the phone records during his investigation has animated some Republican lawmakers, who point to it as proof of overreach by the Biden administration Justice Department and a hard-charging prosecutor.
In July, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, referred Smith to the Justice Department for potential prosecution on allegations that he lied at a previous hearing about his collection of the records — something Smith's attorneys have vigorously disputed.
“I stand by my testimony before the House of Representatives," Smith will say. “I will not be silenced by the continued threats of prosecution from the president or others.”
Grassley, the committee chairman, first disclosed last year that Smith's prosecutors had obtained what's known as “toll records” — data that reveals the date, length and time of phone calls between two parties but not the content of the communications.
Smith has repeatedly justified the move as necessary to document any contact that Trump or surrogates may have had with lawmakers on Jan. 6, 2021, as the president beseeched his supporters to halt the certification of the election results.
“My office didn’t spy on anyone,” Smith said during a hearing in January.
Smith was appointed in 2022 by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland to take over investigations into Trump's efforts to reverse his election loss and Trump's retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Both investigations resulted in felony indictments, but Smith abandoned the cases after Trump won back the White House in 2024, citing longstanding Justice Department opinions that say sitting presidents cannot be federally indicted.
Smith has remained a top target of retribution for Trump and his administration, which last year announced that it would revoke the security clearances of the lawyers representing the former special counsel. The Office of Special Counsel, an independent watchdog agency responsible for enforcing a law against partisan political activity by federal employees, also announced last year an investigation into Smith.
Jordan's referral to the Justice Department centers on a December 2025 exchange in which Smith was asked about subpoenas that prosecutors had issued for the toll records.
Smith said the records he requested did not include the content of the communications. But Jordan maintains that answer was misleading in light of records released by Grassley showing that Smith had obtained the contents of 44 lawmakers’ text messages in a separate subpoena to the National Archives and Records Administration that sought the communications of various Trump advisers and aides.
In response, Smith’s lawyers called his answers “unimpeachably truthful” and noted that he was responding to questions explicitly about toll records, which did not include the contents of any text messages.
Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith is seated before he testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Capitol, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith is seated before he testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Capitol, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
FILE - Special counsel Jack Smith speaks to the media about an indictment of former President Donald Trump, Aug. 1, 2023, at an office of the Department of Justice in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
