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Lawmakers in Texas thought they had a win this year, when they advanced several bills aiming to kneecap their own state’s booming renewable energy industries. Bless their hearts. The bills are now officially dead and the US solar industry, in particular, can live to fight another day — for now, that is.

Texas Lawmakers Once Loved The US Solar Industry

Not too long ago, Texas legislators welcomed the solar industry — and the wind industry, too — with open arms, as part and parcel of the state’s relaxed regulatory environment for energy-related ventures. Texas’s unique status as an electricity “island” also motivated grid planners to scramble for every available in-state power generation resource, including its copious store of wind and solar energy.

Well, that was then. More recently, vote-thirsty politicians on the Republican side of the aisle have been riding the “anti-woke” fever in a toxic wave pool of right wing ideology, sweeping up renewable energy in its path.

That’s quite a turnaround for a state that has claimed the #1 spot for wind energy generation on a state-by-state ranking since the early 2000s. The Texas solar industry has been no slouch, either. Texas was not an early leader in installed solar capacity but it has raced to the top in recent years, vying with California for #1.

Where Is The Love?

Apparently, some legislators in Texas would rather burn their laurels rather than rest on them. Victory has been elusive, though. During the Biden administration, for example, the Republican majority in the Texas legislature passed new laws aimed at preventing public fund managers in the state from doing business with renewables-friendly financial firms.

The law of unintended consequences kicked in when the new restrictions throttled down competition in the financial sector, burdening taxpayers with new expenses while financial firms simply skipped off to conduct their business with wind and solar industry stakeholders elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the renewable energy footprint continued to grow in Texas, particularly in the case of solar. “The market research firm CleanView ran the numbers on capacity additions and calculated that Texas accounted for more than 25% of all solar energy added to the US in 2024,” CleanTechnica noted earlier this year.

The CleanView forecast was also rosy for 2025, with Texas nailing down 35% of the entire current US solar project pipeline.

Texas Solar Industry Under Siege, Or Not

This year, instead of attacking renewable energy investors through the public fund route, lawmakers went straight for the jugular. Several new (or newish) bills went sailing through the Texas legislature earlier this year, aimed at placing new restrictions on the shovels-in-the-ground side of the wind and solar industry in order to discourage investors.

The law firm K&L Gates was among those warning that the new bills are “likely to stifle renewable development at a time when the state cannot keep up with increased energy demands.”

K&L advised that one of the bills, SB 819, would “have a chilling effect on investors’ appetites to finance new projects or expand existing facilities and will likely negatively impact renewable projects that are operating within the state.” SB 819 would have layered extra regulatory requirements onto wind and solar projects, while leaving fossil energy projects untouched. Legislators had tried to pass a similar bill, SB 624, in the previous session.

Another new bill, SB 715, would essentially require wind and solar projects to contract with gas power plants for backup power or pay stiff fines. A third bill, SB 388, would have required renewable energy developers to add new gas generation on a watt-to-watt equivalency, ignoring that fact that new gas power plants are already facing a turbine supply bottleneck.

Despite the looming threats, renewable energy developers in Texas have continued to hammer away at ongoing projects, with the solar industry in the lead. Earlier this year, for example, CleanTechnica took note of Texas-based Vesper Energy’s 600-megawatt Hornet solar array, part of a 16-gigawatt solar energy and energy storage project pipeline the company is planning for Texas and elsewhere in the US.

Another project of note is the 260-megawatt SunRoper project, under the wing of the San Antonio firm OCI Energy and the Israeli solar industry leader Arava Power. SunRoper is just one piece of OCI’s 20-project, 10-gigawatt solar and energy storage pipeline, much of which is located in Texas.

The Solar Industry Is Saved, For Now

All that persistence is about to pay off. As reported by The Hill on May 28, several bills “targeting the Texas renewables industry” hit a brick wall. They were not voted down by a sudden change of heart, though. They passed the Senate last week. However, with the current session set to end on May 16, Republican leaders in the House decided not to calendar the bills in time for a vote, and so they died a procedural death.

“The fight in Texas echoed a similar fight in Washington, where red-state senators whose districts have benefited from billions in clean energy investment are now pushing back against a House-passed budget that seeks to eliminate Biden-era tax credits that incentivized that spending.” Hill reporter Saul Elbein observed somewhat optimistically. Still, it does appear that cooler heads prevailed in Texas, at least for now.

The Texas bills were opposed by top players in the Texas business community, including the Advanced Power Alliance, which represents diversified fossil energy firms as well as wind and solar industry stakeholders. The sponsor of SB 715, Republican Kevin Sparks, also reportedly told his fellow legislators that the Texas Association of Manufacturers and the Texas Oil & Gas Association both opposed his bill.

Texas To Solar Industry: Bring Us Your Factories!

Oh the irony, it burns like a thousand points of light. Texas legislators are already gearing up for the next session, when a new suite of anti-renewable bills may succeed where others failed. However, if they don’t do something to stop solar factories from popping up in their home state, Texas will continue to put its oversized stamp on the nation’s solar profile.

Just a few years ago, Texas had exactly one solar module manufacturer on its roster. Now the state is home to a growing number of solar manufacturing facilities, guaranteeing that a strong domestic supply chain will keep the nation’s solar industry humming along for years to come, if not in Texas then elsewhere around the country.

Photo: Vesper Energy’s 600-megawatt Hornet solar array is up and running in Swisher County, a testimony to the strength of the Texas solar industry (courtesy of Vesper).

This analysis and news roundup comes from the Canary Media Weekly newsletter. Sign up to get it every Friday.

Over the past few months, the Texas Senate passed three bills that could’ve devastated the state’s nation-leading renewable energy rollout — but clean energy has dodged the bullet.

The first of those bills would have established new fees, setback requirements, and other permitting regulations on utility-scale wind and solar development, even though fossil-fuel plants don’t face the same restrictions. The second would have required large renewables installations to buy gas generation as a backup.

And the third would’ve ensured all renewable power development came with a side of fossil fuels, as it directed that 50% of all new power plant capacity added to the state’s grid come from dispatchable resources other than battery storage. That would have amounted to a gas mandate: Since solar panels and wind turbines can only produce power under certain conditions (sun shining, wind blowing, you know the drill), they can only be dispatchable power sources if batteries are involved. An earlier version of the bill explicitly said 50% of new capacity would have to come from gas.

These bills would have seriously slowed Texas’ deployment of solar, batteries, and wind power, which are shattering power-generation records in the state and helping its grid withstand extreme weather and meet surging electricity demand. The legislation would have caused reliability to fall and utility bills to soar, according to an April report from Aurora Energy Research.

But the Texas House’s session is set to end on June 2, and none of those three bills have been scheduled for consideration. This doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t resurface at some point, but they’re at least dead as standalone bills for this session, Doug Lewin writes in his Texas Energy and Power newsletter.

There are growing signs that these sorts of restrictions on renewables aren’t popular among many Texas Republicans and business interests. Recent polling from Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation shows widespread Republican support for renewables, while even the Texas Oil and Gas Association allied with renewable power generators to oppose the state House’s companion to the Senate’s bill requiring gas backup for clean energy.

Similar efforts in the state were defeated two years ago as well. More big energy stories DOE orders a coal plant to stay open

The Trump administration took its pro-coal agenda to a new level last Friday, ordering a retiring Michigan coal plant to stay open through at least the end of August. The J.H. Campbell plant was supposed to shut down tomorrow, and Michigan utility Consumers Energy had been working since at least 2021 to do so. But the administration contended that the Midwest faces an ​“energy emergency” and needs the plant to guarantee power reliability.

Clean energy advocates, consumer watchdogs, and even Michigan’s top energy regulator disagree. ​“We currently produce more energy in Michigan than needed,” Michigan Public Service Commission Chair Dan Scripps said in a statement. ​“The unnecessary recent order from the U.S. Department of Energy will increase the cost of power for homes and businesses across the Midwest.”

Three “anti-solar” bills, SB 819, SB 388 and SB 715, appear dead after failing to meet Texas’s deadlines that would otherwise allow the legislation to progress.

SB 819 would have placed additional fees, permitting restrictions, setback requirements and regulatory mandates on utility-scale solar and wind projects in Texas, which the state does not impose on other forms of energy. Despite the army of opposition the bill received while in committee, with more than 100 groups registering against the bill, the legislation passed the Senate 22-9 in April. Legislators did not take any action on SB 819 after it was engrossed and moved to the Texas House of Representatives.

“With people and energy-hungry industries flocking to Texas, we need an all-of-the-above strategy to meet demand, and solar and storage are the quickest resources able to be deployed to the grid,” Daniel Giese, the Texas state director for Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), told pv magazine USA.

SB 388 would have required at least half of all new generation in the ERCOT region come from “dispatchable generation other than energy storage.” The bill originally mandated the 50% threshold come from natural gas, but was amended to dispatchable generation “other than battery energy storage.”

Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, said that while the grid needs dispatchable energy resources, “we are not aware of any study by ERCOT, or any other entity that had determined that proportion to be optimal, or even an improvement from the status quo.”

Giese said Texas would be far more vulnerable to grid outages if new generation were limited to a small number of facilities. “The simple fact is Texas needs every resource on the grid to keep prices low for consumers and meet the demands of future population and business growth.”

Excluding California, Texas has more battery storage than the rest of the United States combined, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Additionally, the majority of Texas residents from both sides of the aisle believe solar paired with battery systems would make the grid more reliable and resilient, a survey by the SEIA, Global Strategy Group and North Star Opinion Research found last year.

Texas’s ample land and relatively hands-off regulatory environment have made it easier for developers to enter the state’s energy storage market, the Texas comptroller says. Added to this are plunging costs of lithium-ion batteries found by a BloombergNEF analysis and the Inflation Reduction Act’s tax incentives, and energy storage’s position in the free market is bound to boom.

SB 715 aimed to establish a retroactive mandate that existing renewable energy installations install a backup energy source.

The legislation “would reduce reliability of the Texas power grid while increasing electricity costs for consumers, if enacted,” said Aurora Energy Research stated in a report.

The three bills missed Saturday’s deadline for legislation passed in the Senate to clear a committee vote in the House of Representatives. Additionally, today is the last day for the Texas House to consider all bills on their second and third reading.

“The failure of these three bills is a victory for ratepayers,” said Adrian Shelley, the director of Public Citizen’s Texas office. “It is also a tacit recognition by a legislature that is too friendly to fossil fuels that renewable energy sources are an indispensable part of powering the state,” he said.

Shelley said signing the bills into law would have meant higher energy prices and slowed the growth of energy sources that keep the Texas electric grid stable. He added, “When lawmakers return for their next session, the attacks on renewables must end in favor of legislation that will slow or reduce the state’s fast-rising demand for electricity.”

The anti-solar legislation came just as Texas began to take its place as one of the top states for installed solar capacity, which, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), is ranked first in the country for its utility-scale solar capacity. Nearly 12,500 Texans are employed and more than $50 billion is invested in the state’s solar industry, according to SEIA.

(See also: Solar’s ‘remarkable’ boom in Trump country)

Texas passed other legislation this session to require the recycling of retired solar and wind projects, unless Gov. Abbott vetoes the bill.

Texas’s legislative session operates in odd years, so its legislators will reconvene for the next session in 2027.

Read about other solar-related bills state lawmakers are debating this legislative session here.

Texas lawmakers passed legislation to speed up the permitting process for home solar and energy storage installations.

SB 1202 will expedite the approval process by allowing authorized third parties, such as a licensed engineer, to review development documents and conduct inspections required by regulatory authorities to install home backup power generation instead of by the regulatory authority. The authorized third party would then be required to provide notice of the results within 15 days to the regulatory authority.

Notably, once the third-party submits the notice, the person can immediately begin construction of the home backup power installation on their property. Additionally, the bill requires a regulatory authority to issue an applicable approval, permit or certification within two business days of receiving the notice.

The legislation, introduced by Sen. Phil King (R) extends Texas’s current approach to building permits, which allows permit applicants to use a qualified third-party to review their application if the city does not approve or deny it after several business days, to include residential back-up power system permits. This includes solar and batteries.

The Texas Association of Business called SB 1202 a “game-changer for Texans” as it will empower homeowners to strengthen their own energy security while enhancing grid resilience for everyone.

Representatives across solar, environmental and business industry groups registered support of the bill and four cities registered against the legislation.

While the legislation does not require SolarAPP+, Houston is currently piloting the platform. Developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the automated permit processing platform is free for jurisdictions to adopt, and funds are available to help cover the technical expenses of switching to a new system.

The bill “targets costly, unnecessary barriers that delay installations and inflate costs – barriers that disproportionately burden families in need of reliable backup power,” the Texas Association of Business said. “By fortifying Texas homes against future disasters like the 2021 Winter Storm Uri – which left 2.7 million households in the dark and disrupted water access for 12 million – this legislation will empower homeowners with the security they deserve, reaffirming Texas’ unwavering independent spirit.”

The House amended the legislation to state that if an authorized third party conducts the inspection and is negligent, the person who conducted the review or inspection, and not the regulatory authority, is liable for any damages that result from the negligence.

After the legislation unanimously passed the Senate, SB 1202 passed the House with 128 representatives voting in favor and seven representatives voting against it.

The bill was sent to Gov. Abbott on May 28. Because the bill was sent with less than 10 days left in the session, the governor will have 20 days after the session adjourns on June 2 to act, or it will become law by default. Unless Gov. Abbott vetoes the legislation, the law will go into effect Sept. 1, 2025.

Texas passed other legislation this session to require the recycling of retired solar and wind projects, which also goes to the governor for his signature.

Texas’s legislative session operates in odd years, so its legislators will reconvene for the next session in 2027.

Read about other solar-related bills state lawmakers are debating this legislative session here.

Texas is No. 2 in the US for wind and solar capacity, but the Texas Senate passed a bill that aims to kneecap clean energy with an industry-killing review process. Here’s what happened in the House.

May 28, 2025: The Senate passed SB 819, which would have created prohibitive new restrictions on wind and solar energy development that didn’t apply to any other form of energy. But it failed to meet deadlines that would have allowed it to progress in the House, so it’s now dead in the water. (Good riddance.)

SB 388 and SB 715, also anti-renewable, also died in the House of Representatives for the same reason. SB 388 would have required 50% of new energy generation to be “dispatchable,” but the bill unfairly excluded battery storage as a form of dispatchable energy. SB 715 wanted to require existing renewable energy installations to install backup energy.

Adrian Shelley, Texas director of Public Citizen, said, “The failure of these three bills is a victory for ratepayers. It is also a tacit recognition by a legislature that is too friendly to fossil fuels that renewable energy sources are an indispensable part of powering the state.”

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April 15, 2025: The Texas Senate today passed SB 819, which creates new restrictions on the development of wind and solar energy under the guise of “protecting” wildlife. The restrictions don’t apply to any other forms of energy.

Texas uses an extraordinary amount of power, and renewables play a big part in supplying that power. The Texas Tribune reported in March that “ERCOT [the Texas grid] predicts that Texas’ energy demand will nearly double by 2030, with power supply projected to fall short of peak demand in a worst-case scenario beginning in summer 2026.” That’s because of extreme weather, population growth, and crypto-mining facilities.

As of February, Texas increased its energy supply by 35% over the last four years, and 92% of that supply came from solar, wind, and battery storage.

Solar is the largest source of energy generating capacity that has been added to the Texas grid. That’s because it’s cost-effective and it can be deployed quickly. So if new solar projects are kneecapped, power demand will outstrip supply in the Lone Star State.

Daniel Giese, Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)’s Texas director of state affairs, stated after the Senate’s vote, “With energy demand rising fast, Texas needs every megawatt it can generate to keep the lights on and our economy strong. We cannot afford to turn away from the pro-energy and pro-business policies that made the Lone Star State the energy capital, but that’s exactly what SB 819 does. We urge the Texas House to reject this bill.”

Less clean energy would also jack up electricity bills for Texans, and rural areas would lose billions in landowner revenue and tax payments. Every time a wind farm or solar farm is installed on rural land, it brings a lot of money to the community that surrounds it. A January report estimated that existing and planned solar, wind, and battery storage projects will contribute $20 billion in local tax revenue and $29.5 billion in landowner payments.

What’s especially baffling about this bill is that it flies in the face of a core Texas value – keeping the government out of private property decisions – yet it does precisely the opposite.

Environment Texas executive director Luke Metzger issued the following response: ‘By making it much more difficult to build wind and solar energy in Texas, this bill threatens to increase pollution, increase blackouts and increase our electric bills.​

“Under the guise of helping land and wildlife, SB 819 would create a discriminatory and capricious permitting standard that could grind renewable energy development to a halt.

“We urge the House of Representatives to reject this bill and instead support policies that promote a cleaner, more sustainable energy future for all Texans.”

It will come as no surprise to regular readers that I find this bill ludicrously masochistic. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and please keep it civil.

Read more: A vast 600 MW Texas solar farm just hit a major milestone [update]

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