Texas renewable energy industry, the most dynamic in the country, has been a constant source of embarrassment for the fossil fuel industry.
Texas has its own grid, almost entirely cut off from the rest of North America. The Downside is they can’t sell excess power to other markets, and they can’t call on neighboring states for additional energy in times of stress.
The upside is, Texas has the most market oriented grid, maybe in the world – ant that market has overwhelmingly been choosing wind, solar, and battery storage to meet new demand, despite the Texas Legislature’s attempts to jump start and advantage the natural gas sector.
Over the last year, gas funded legislators introduced bills that would have hamstrung clean energy – at a moment when demand is rising precipitously.
It looks like a combination of urban greens, rural Republicans who value property rights, local officials who appreciate the revenue from renewable projects, and Chamber of Commerce pragmatists, has, once again, fought off the challenge. This is a big deal.
Legislation that would have added several layers of regulation to new wind and solar power facilities – rules opposed by renewable energy producers and environmentalists – missed a key deadline Saturday and is unlikely to pass this year.
Senate Bill 819, authored by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, would require new utility-scale wind and solar plants to undergo Public Utility Commission approval and public notice. In addition, new wind turbines would have to be set back from neighboring property lines by twice the height of the turbine and blade unless a waiver was signed, according to the most recent version of the measure.
As a Republican state lawmaker for 16 years, a Texas rancher and a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, John Davis’s conservative credentials are impeccable. But Davis has become horrified at his party’s assault upon an increasingly vital lifeline to many rural, conservative areas of the US – clean energy development.
Davis allowed seven wind turbines to be situated on his ranch, in the rolling hill country near Menard, west of Austin, and has seen the income provide opportunities not only for his family but also his local community in what is one of the poorest counties in Texas.
But a barrage of bills working their way through the Republican-held Texas legislature threaten to reverse the state’s position as the US’s clean energy superpower, even curtailing cherished private property rights by limiting a landowner’s ability to host wind and solar farms.
The bills come as Trump has ramped up anti-renewable rhetoric on the national stage, calling wind turbines “ugly” and “disgusting” and barringmajor clean energy projects on federal lands and waters. “We don’t want windmills in this country,” Trump, who has enjoyed strong electoral support from farmers, said shortly after being inaugurated as president.
This backlash has left many conservatives, such as Davis, bewildered, with recent polling showing that most Republican voters in Texas oppose moves to squash the state’s booming renewable energy sector. While climate campaigners see renewables as a crucial replacement for the fossil fuels that are overheating the planet, places such as Menard county, Texas – where Trump won more than 80% of the vote in last year’s election – are more inclined to weigh other factors.
“We’re supposed to be the party of common sense but we’ve shifted to be like the Democrats and that is what makes me mad. When you tell me what to do on my own property that sounds more like a Democrat,” Davis said. “Some of the bills they are trying to pass would kill renewables.”
Davis retired as state legislator in 2015 to spend more time on his ranch but has lately been donning a suit and traveling back to Austin to urge his former colleagues to reject the anti-renewables bills. “I testify as a conservative and say: ‘What are you guys doing? Have you lost your mind?’” he said. “Some of these bills are attacking battery storage of all things. How dumb is that? It’s sacrificing your core conservative value principles in order to protect the oil and gas industry.”