<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3t1nIq_0vMwFdry00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3t1nIq_0vMwFdry00" width="1920" height="1080" ><figcaption>Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios</figcaption></figure>Texas passed California as the state with the most power-generating capacity from big solar projects, <a href="https://cleanpower.org/resources/quarterly-market-report-q2-2024/">new industry data shows</a>.Why it matters: Growth of these utility-scale arrays highlights the wider trend that Texas is a lab for almost every aspect of the energy and climate future.The big picture: Long the country's biggest wind producer, Texas is now second in battery storage too.<ul><li>The state's utility-scale solar capacity reached 21.9 gigawatts in Q2, moving ahead of California's 21.1 GW, the American Clean Power Association (ACP) said Thursday.</li><li>That's one-fifth of the country's total, the industry group said. And another 12 GW are under construction, more than the next five states combined, per ACP. </li><li>California <a href="https://seia.org/solar-state-by-state/">remains ahead</a> on solar when you include rooftop systems.</li></ul>How it works: My in-depth research suggests Texas is big, sunny, and windy. So that's one reason it's a renewables hotspot as demand grows and peaks get higher. But that alone doesn't explain why developers flock there. <ul><li>University of Texas at Austin expert Joshua Rhodes said via email that the state's cost allocation process for building transmission is simpler than other jurisdictions. </li><li>Phil Sgro, an ACP spokesman, calls Texas a "unique" market with a "timelier permitting and interconnection process in ERCOT than in other regions."</li><li>Grid stability is a big focus in a changing climate, with crises in recent years in the state exposed to extreme heat, cold, and hurricanes. </li><li>Batteries boost flexibility, and Sgro said via email that ERCOT is helping storage "effectively participate" in wholesale markets.</li></ul>Rhodes also points to the state's Competitive Renewable Energy Zones program <a href="https://www.cleanenergygrid.org/texas-national-model-bringing-clean-energy-grid/">launched in the mid-2000s</a> that helped get wind to population centers. Now that transmission helps solar too.<ul><li>Other reasons include grid manager ERCOT allowing new resources even if transmission constraints mean some waste, called curtailment, Rhodes said.</li></ul><ul><li>Also on the list: Texas' deregulated system makes it easy for corporations to contract directly for renewables, he said.</li></ul>🛢️ State of play: Other things to watch in Texas: <ul><li>If U.S. oil giants based there can truly scale low-carbon businesses adjacent to their fossil fuel lines.</li><li>Exxon and Chevron are investing in carbon capture, hydrogen and more, while Exxon is venturing into lithium extraction too.</li><li>Occidental Petroleum is heavily involved in building direct air capture — helped along by DOE funding.</li><li>And watch the country's largest oil and gas producing state to see how long frackers can keep learning how to extract more and more resources.</li></ul>Meanwhile, Texas is increasingly a hotbed for climate tech startups, who now rub shoulders with incumbent energy companies.<ul><li>It's not random that the prominent startup incubator Greentown Labs chose Houston as their second location in 2020.</li></ul>The bottom line: Texas is everything.</div></body>

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Solar is bigger in Texas

Texas passed California as the state with the most power-generating capacity from big solar projects, new industry data shows. Why it matters: Growth of these utility-scale arrays highlights the wider trend that Texas is a lab for almost every aspect of the energy and climate future. The big picture: Long...

Solar is bigger in Texas

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