For decades an unofficial symbol of Texas has been an oil well, and that will probably be the case for many more years. At some point, however, a new energy symbol might take its place — a solar panel. And it’s not as unlikely as some Texans might think.
Texas generates a small but growing amount of solar power, which shouldn’t surprising given our abundant sun. (Maybe we should be called the sunshine state, not Florida.) Solar power makes up only 3.8% of our state’s power grid now, but many analysts say that this total could dramatically increase in coming years.
There are already plans to add another 106 gigawatts of solar developments. A gigawatt is enough to power about 200,000 homes. The Energy Information Administration says that Texas will see more solar generation come online this year than any other state in the country.
For solar developers, the lure is clear: Texas is a market that boasts the fastest growth in power demand in the country, has a lot of cheap land and no shortage of sunshine.
“No one is sitting around saying ‘Are new solar additions going to slow down or collapse (in Texas)?’ ” said Tara Narayanan, a solar analyst at BNEF. “The only question seems to be ‘How high is this going to go?’ ”
It’s not just big plants. Rooftop solar systems and other residential generators like those powered by diesel fuel or batteries are being used to create microgrids to power an individual house or be linked to others in a neighborhood.
That small-scale solar capacity grew by 63 percent, to 1,093 megawatts from 670 megawatts, from 2019 to 2020 alone. In last year’s third quarter, Texas ranked behind only California in the amount of power from new installations during the period.
The trend seems clear, and it is a positive one. The world is clearly transitioning from fossil fuels to greener forms of energy. Even though the process will play out over several decades, even a big oil-producing state like Texas must be plugged in to this future.
Texas already produces more wind power than any other state, almost 30% of the nation’s total. That little-known fact suggests that Texas could become a top producer in solar power as well.
Local and state governments must be open to solar-generating power facilities …….