Texas Legislative Efforts to Throttle Renewables Fail, For Now

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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Renewable energy advocates in Texas breathed a sigh of relief after the state legislature adjourned June 2 before four bills hostile to wind and solar energy could be considered by the state House of Representatives. But those bills could come back in the next legislative session, which begins in 2027.

During the just-concluded session, the Texas Senate passed four bills--S.B. 383, S.B. 388, S.B. 715 and S.B. 819--that would have made it harder and more expensive to build new renewable electric generation in the state. The measures also would have driven up the cost of operating existing renewable power-generation facilities. For more on the potential impact of some of these bills, see May 13, 2025, article - Texas Lawmakers Want to Support Gas Power by Crippling Renewables.

Environment Texas (Austin, Texas), an environmental advocacy group, said those four bills were "major threats to clean energy" that "could have ground renewable energy development to a halt" in the Lone Star State.

Here is a top-line summary of each Senate-approved bill that died due to inaction by the House:

• S.B. 383 would have banned offshore wind in state waters from interconnecting with ERCOT, the state grid manager
• S.B. 388 would have required that 50% of new generation come from natural gas or else make renewable energy pay steep fees to gas companies
• S.B. 715 would have forced wind and solar companies to pay stiff fees to "firm" their intermittent electric output
• S.B. 819 would have created a new permitting program for solar and wind that the environmental group said was "discriminatory and capricious"

Industrial Info is tracking about 470 renewable energy-generation projects being developed in Texas. The total investment value (TIV) of these projects is about $180.6 billion. Most of these projects, 403, are deemed to have a low probability of moving forward, according to their existing schedules. But Industrial Info believes 17 projects have a medium probability and 50 others have a high probability of moving forward according to their schedules. The TIV of the medium and high probability projects is approximately $24.5 billion.

One of the organizations advocating for the failed bills is the Texas Public Policy Foundation (Austin, Texas), a conservative think tank that said it was part of Project 2025, according to its website. Texas lawmakers supporting these bills cite a study from that group issued earlier this year.

"Over $130 billion in private capital and nearly $30 billion in state and federal subsidies have poured into wind, solar and energy storage infrastructure in Texas, yet Texans are only seeing higher costs and lower reliability," said Brent Bennett, policy director for TPPF's "Life:Powered" initiative that seeks "to raise America's energy IQ," according to the TPPF's website.

In 2023, Texas lawmakers created a $10 billion program to support construction or refurbishment of dispatchable electric-generating capacity. In effect, this means gas-fired generation. That fund was wildly oversubscribed, though some projects have subsequently dropped out. For more on the creation of that fund, see June 9, 2023, article - Texas Legislation Would Give $10 Billion Boost for New Dispatchable Generation.

Texas has been a national leader in the construction of new renewable generation. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (Austin, Texas), the grid operator for Texas, said the installed capacity of renewable generation was about 71,169 megawatts (MW), while the state's dispatchable generation (coal, gas and nuclear) totaled about 86,290 MW. But in the summer, hot temperatures sharply reduce windspeed, significantly lowering the output of wind generators. And unless solar generators are paired with batteries, their output falls to zero during the night.

In a statement, Abigail Ross Hopper, president and chief executive of the Solar Energy Industries Association (Washington, D.C.), a solar advocacy group, said: "The economic reality and math of energy demand prevailed in Austin, and that is a good thing for Texans' energy bills, the economy and grid reliability. Now, Congress should take the same evidence-based approach and protect clean energy tax credits that are benefiting all Americans." She added that passage of those Texas bills would have "wrapped clean energy generation in red tape."

Some of these now-dead bills were introduced, and died, in prior Texas legislative sessions. Clean energy advocates worry that they could return when the state legislature reconvenes in January 2027. Texas' legislature only meets during odd-numbered years.

Another concern from these groups is that Congress could achieve what Texas did not if it passed President Donald Trump's major legislation, the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," that eliminates most federal funding for renewable energy that was passed during his predecessor's term. But that House-approved bill, at about 1,037 pages, has run into opposition in the Senate, including over its dramatic reduction of clean energy funding and tax credits.

Britt Burt, Industrial Info Resources' senior vice president of research for the Power Industry, added this: "Crippling existing renewable generation, and effectively foreclosing future renewable generation, is not the way to fix Texas' electric challenges. Killing those resources will not get gas-fired generation built any faster. And it certainly seems like it would increase the likelihood of rolling blackouts."

"I'm more of a fan of dispatchable generation than I am of renewable projects, but all of them have their place," Burt continued. "For decades, electric utilities across the nation have practiced an 'all of the above' portfolio strategy. Not putting all your eggs in the same basket has worked for the industry, and its customers, for a very long time. A well-crafted mix of generation resources, including dispatchable resources such as coal, gas and nuclear; intermittent resources such as wind and solar; and customer programs like demand response, is the bedrock of a stable, affordable and reliable electric supply."

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).