In Texas’s latest state legislative session, three bills that would’ve gutted clean energy production and expansion in the state failed.
One bill – Senate Bill 388 -- would’ve set a minimum of 50 percent of the state’s new energy generation capacity development be from “dispatchable power sources” = essentially a rebranded name for fossil fuel-generated and nuclear power. The bill would’ve also created a new dispatchable power credits trading system for dirty energy, copying the renewable energy credits system already available in many states.
A coalition of trade groups, including the Solar Energy Industries Association, Texas grid experts, business leaders, and rural landowners with a vested interest in wind generation (Texas is the nation’s leader in wind energy) worked tirelessly to voice oppositions to the anti-renewable energy bills.
“SB 388, SB 715, and SB 819 failed to pass because a majority of Texas legislators looked at the facts and recognized the proposals for what they were: bad policy,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, in a statement. “With energy demand rising fast in Texas and across the country, we need every electron we can generate to keep the lights on and our economy strong. The road to meeting energy demand goes through solar and storage — the fastest and most cost-effective ways to add capacity to the grid — and Congress must keep that road as smooth as possible. Texas’ energy and economic future are on the line.”
Greg Zimmerman is senior contributing editor for FacilitiesNet.com and Building Operating Management magazine.
