For several years, there’s been a significant increase in the amount of energy generated from renewable energy sources in Texas as the state looks to surpass California’s planned solar generation capacity increases through next year.
According to Texas Business Daily, California has led the U.S. in renewable energy generation for years, but now work being done in Texas would create 50% more solar energy than the Golden State in the next three years.
“Clean and renewable energy are a valuable part of America’s future and are closely tied with Texas’ prosperity and success,” Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) said during a Clean Energy Week proclamation in September 2020, according to Texas Business Daily.
However, relying more heavily on renewable energy comes with a cost. According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the average price of electricity to residential customers in Texas in January of this year was 12.24 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to California, which came in at 23.58 cents per kilowatt hour. During that same time period, industrial customers in California were paying about 8.11 cents more per kilowatt hour.
“Texas’ rapidly increasing solar energy production is going to mean increased prices for Texas consumers,” Bill Peacock, policy director for Energy Alliance, told the Austin Journal.
California’s energy situation shines a spotlight on the future Texas might be facing, too. In the nine years leading up to 2020, electricity prices rose seven times more in California than the rest of the country on average. According to Environmental Progress, prices “will climb as long as California continues investing in renewables.”
“The reliability problem of solar and wind mean that grid operators will have to spend more on reliable generation as a backup,” Peacock said. “Those costs will be passed on to consumers. Look no further than California to see what problems are ahead, where consumers pay nearly twice as much for less reliability.”
The unreliability of solar and wind energy was mentioned as one of three primary reasons for blackouts in California, according to a Final Root Cause Analysis from the California Independent System Operator, California Public Utilities Commission and the California Energy Commission.
In a 2020 op-ed, Robert Bryce argued that California’s energy prices were driving people who live there into poverty.
At the time the op-ed was published, almost 20% of Californians were living in poverty. Bryce noted that increased costs for electricity “disproportionately impact lower- and middle-income families who lack disposable income to absorb the extra costs.”
