Renewables are saving Texas. Again. So give them their due
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
This summer, like last summer, Texas has battled a brutal heat wave that regularly reaches triple-digit temperatures. This summer, like last summer, the heat wave triggered record levels of energy demand. This summer, like last summer, there have miraculously been no rolling blackouts; in fact, this year, the state’s grid operator has so far asked for just one day of voluntary energy conservation .
In recent years, renewable energy has been ramping up across Texas . The state has rapidly increased solar capacity, for instance, enabling as much as 16,800 megawatts of solar power to be produced on the grid as of the end of May. That’s roughly six times the capacity that existed in 2019 (about 2,600 megawatts), according to data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s grid operator.
This increase — coupled with greater wind and storage development — is what has allowed Texans to beat the heat and keep their electricity bills down.
After all, several thermal-energy plants in the state went offline in recent weeks , as coal, natural gas and nuclear facilities appeared to buckle under extreme temperatures and shrinking maintenance windows . Additional solar and wind generation more than made up the difference. Renewables overall have lately represented roughly 35 to 40 percent of power generation at peak, compared with about 30 percent last year.
The result is not only that renewables have enabled Texas residents to keep the lights and air conditioning on during this hellish heat. They probably also saved Texans “billions of dollars” last week alone by keeping prices from spiking, says Doug Lewin, an Austin-based energy consultant and author of the Texas Energy and Power Newsletter .
What’s responsible for this … ahem … windfall?
Federal tax incentives, including those in the Inflation Reduction Act, have certainly encouraged additional renewable development nationwide. Technological advances have as well, with wind and solar development costs growing increasingly competitive against fossil fuels even before taking subsidies into account. Improvements in storage technology have also helped address renewables’ most-cited weakness: their intermittency . With better batteries, air conditioners can reliably keep blasting even on cloudy, windless days.
But much of this is a Texas-specific story, too.
Though not exactly known for its bleeding-heart-liberal populace, Texas generates more electricity from wind and solar than any other state. Of the 710 megawatts of new battery storage that went online across the United States in the first three months of 2023, about 70 percent was in Texas alone, according to data from S&P Global .
Perhaps this isn’t surprising, if you look at Texas’s landscape and demographics; it’s naturally quite sunny and windy, with a growing population. These features have made it an attractive place to site new and efficient renewable-energy projects.
The state has made some smart policy decisions, too. It got a jump-start on expanding transmission lines , for instance, to help move power from windy but secluded areas to denser population centers. The state’s electricity market was designed to make it easy for new energy producers to connect to the Texas grid.
Perhaps most important, Texas (unlike, say, California) has a relatively permissive permitting environment for building of all kinds: housing, energy infrastructure, you name it.
At least, the state has had a welcoming regulatory environment for all these things. More recently, Texas politicians have been threatening to kill their golden goose.
In the legislative session that recently ended, state lawmakers introduced a raft of bills designed to curb renewable-energy investment and prop up traditional thermal energy producers. One bill , for example, would have put new permitting requirements in place just for wind and solar, and nothing else. “You could still site an oil and gas well literally across the fence line from a day-care facility,” explains Lewin, “but you’d have to go and ask permission to put a solar panel on somewhere.”
These bills seem to have been motivated by a combination of factors. For some, it’s just NIMBYism (people not wanting their rustic views ruined by wind turbines, for example). Others want to help the state’s beloved fossil-fuel industry. (Texas remains the top oil-and-gas producing state in the nation, too.) And perhaps others are driven by culture-war concerns (renewables are indulgences pushed by commie tree-huggers, etc.).
While the worst of these bills didn’t make it through, they are likely to get revived in the years ahead. Renewables have proved a favorite scapegoat for any problems with Texas’s power system — even when they’re actually the key to alleviating those problems. For which they never seem to get their due.
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Maybe it has something to do with all those CA tree huggers movin' in ... /s. More likely it's money being far more rational than politicians.
I wonder why more states aren't following Texas' lead on renewable energy?
I wonder why it's easier and cheaper to get a permit to put an oil or gas well next to a school than a wind turbine.
I wonder why other states are so far behind Texas in renewable energy.
And where does YOUR state rank in production of renewable energy?
Got any idea at all?
A unique geography amenable to both wind and solar helps.
I wonder how much farther ahead in the production of renewable energy texas would be without being hindered by the stifling efforts of big oil owned republican proxies in the texas legislature.
I see you studiously avoiding commenting on YOUR state's renewable energy.
I have to assume since you won't talk about it that it must not be great.
But go ahead and bash the state that produces the most renewable energy!
LOL!
I wonder when you'll provide evidence for your claims.
10 million [removed] flapping their jaws with conspiracy theories about cancer causing, bird killing wind turbines greatly subsidizes the air movement in bumfuck texas wind zones...
Around 13,000 wind turbines are in operation in Texas.
How many in your state?
Texas produces about 30% of the US' electricity supplied by wind.
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It's Texas, just another thing for him to rage on about.
Notice he doesn't want to talk about his state?
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Always a possibility
with 300+ days of sunshine per year, colorado is geared more towards solar generation than wind generation of renewable energy. the vast majority of solar energy production in colorado is privately owned by homeowners. the home I live in averages $22 per month in electric cost.
Across the board energy has become a loud culture war; in the meantime the largest investors in 'clean' energy are the producers of 'dirty' energy. Texans deserve kudos if you want to see renewables expand.
without foreign owned renewable energy production in texas, it drops off the graph...
That doesn't tell me how much electricity is produced by wind or solar.
Good try though!
my state isn't the topic...
I know your reluctance to stop bashing Texas is prohibiting you from talking about it.
not bashing texas, just their elected rwnj vermin...
Sorry, I am not in the market for unadulterated bullshit today.
You've apparently not actually seen either.
Why do Climiturds always run to Texas when they want to boast about renewables? California is an oil producing state so why hasn't California become the centerpiece of Climiturd propaganda?
It is rather telling that states like California are passing laws and regulations that require installing renewables. That's quite different than Texas politicizing renewables with laws that make it more difficult to adopt renewables. (Texas is attempting to slow renewables by becoming California with more stringent regulation and permitting! But the Climiturds can't wrap their heads around that.)
Texas has adopted policies that promote renewable energy. Texas has invested in the transmission infrastructure needed to take advantage of renewables. And Texas has a less stringent regulatory and permitting environment that allows easier adoption of renewables. Maybe that's the better approach.
Can always count on you to fulminate with a fatuous fart.
Interesting stats about Texas and how their electricity is produced. Now if they could get rid of the Coal fired plants (19%) and reduce their use of natural gas (44.8%) which is 8% higher than the national average they would be rockin'. Of course, with the current extreme temps they are adding to the production of ''hot air''..
Our use of natural gas will probably always be higher than the national average.
It's clean and it's local.