The state of Texas is expected to see new advancements in renewable energy thanks to incoming investments in clean energy tech for solar and wind projects.
In an article published May 11, Conservative Texans for Energy Innovation State Director Matt Welch announced that a number of new investments into clean energy would be coming to Texas in the coming years, as traditional energy companies are switching to renewable energy and Texas becomes a national leader in renewable energy generation through major solar and wind projects.
"Here in Texas, we see the growth of clean energy firsthand," Welch said in the article. "Our central power grid currently has 92,000 megawatts of installed generating capacity and serves more than 26 million customers. Today, 38% of that capacity comes from wind and solar resources, which delivered nearly a quarter of all the electricity we used last year."
On May 10, McKinsey's Quarterly "Five-Fifty" was published, titled "The Great Reallocation" and noted that a shift in spending from high- to low-emissions assets could be a potential boon for the environment and the economy alike. McKinsey also projects that the net-zero transition could increase annual energy spending to $9.2 trillion with industries and governments working to shift towards green energy, while spending on low-emission assets will reach $3.5 billion annually.
"These investments are real, having big impacts today, and will pay long dividends," Welch continued. "It’s also clear that this is just the beginning, both globally, and for Texas – which is astutely positioning itself as the epicenter of the energy transition."
On the opposite end of the spectrum, a proposal from the Texas Public Policy Foundation was more critical of the Texas energy generation situation, noting that subsidized variable energy generation has overturned the traditional ERCOT method of assigning costs to loads due to a lack of reliability requirements. But in Texas, the increase in renewables has been a major drawing point, as the state has added more renewable energy than anywhere else, with $2.4 billion in total subsidies to wind and solar generation in 2021, according to Energy Alliance.