Solar energy is bigger in Texas

By EPN Staff

In 2024, Texas surpassed California to become the No. 1 state in the nation for utility-scale solar energy installations. The Lone Star State now hosts 20 percent of the overall U.S. solar fleet, according to a 2024 American Clean Power report.

Solar energy projects comprise two thirds of the clean energy projects currently in development in Texas, the report notes, and will add 12.7 gigawatts of generation capacity to meet the state’s growing demand for electricity.

Why it matters

Solar energy is playing a key role in supplying more of Texans’ electricity during the middle of the day, and that proportion is expected to grow as more projects come online, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

This achieves multiple policy goals:

• It helps diversify the state’s reliance on any single source of energy.
• It complements existing baseload power provided through nuclear, coal- and natural gas-fired generation.
• It reduces emissions and helps maintain affordability, boosting quality of life and economic opportunity.
• It diversifies the state’s energy industry and economy by creating new jobs and supply chains.

The bigger picture

Texas has long been an energy colossus, producing more oil, natural gas and wind power than any other state. In fact, Texas accounted for 43 percent of the nation’s crude oil and 27 percent of natural gas gross withdrawals in 2023, according to federal data.

The growth of wind power in Texas is a legacy of policy decisions state leaders made in the 1990s; in 2023, Texas accounted for 23 percent of all U.S. wind-sourced electricity, according to federal data.

On certain days, the state’s carbon-free electricity profile has topped 80 percent, thanks to largely to wind, solar and nuclear.

How it helps

Texas’ economy has soared in the past two decades while its overall emissions have been largely kept in check. For example, the World Resources Institute looked at 12 years of data and found Texas’ economy grew 45 percent while emissions grew 3 percent.

The state’s per capita emissions curve took a noticeable turn in the mid-to-late 2000s, after the Texas legislature approved major legislation that boosted renewable energy targets and let utilities recover costs for new transmission lines needed to move solar and wind-generated electricity from sunny, windy, rural west Texas and into population centers.

Those transmission upgrades cost billions, but the cheaper energy they brought online saved customers billions more. In a 2022 report, IdeaSmiths, an in-state energy analysis firm, said wind and solar generation saved customers nearly $28 billion over 12 years.

The firm estimated Texans saved billions more through lower health care and environmental costs delivered by the lower emissions.