“For decades, the Lone Star State has been essentially synonymous with fossil fuels. While shale oil and gas have long reigned supreme in Texas, coal has also long been a prominent part of the state’s energy mix, currently clocking in at about an 18% share. But not for long. The winds of change are blowing through Texas. In 2020, for the first time ever, wind power overtook coal in the state’s overall energy mix, “the latest sign of renewable energy’s rising prominence in America’s fossil fuel heartland” according to reporting by the Financial Times this week. As the shale revolution that put Texas on the global energy map has been cooling down, the state has been fervently building up its wind power capacity. In fact, Texas has been one of the leaders in the wind power movement across the nation, “pulling in tens of billions of dollars in capital investment over the past decade and rapidly expanding electricity generation from the fuel.”
“While in the very recent past renewable energy and anything that could be even remotely related with a liberal agenda were anathema in the oil fields of West Texas, the refineries along the Gulf Coast, and all halls of government where Texans commune, from Austin to Washington DC, the huge injection of cash into wind power at the same time that the U.S. shale-based economy is collapsing has been a powerfully persuasive turn of events to bring more industry leaders on board for the clean energy transition. Money has had a depoliticizing power in the energy markets in Texas, and as petro-dogma fades, some decidedly conservative folks who are decidedly uninterested in the climate or environmental causes are getting very, very rich off wind and solar.
“As such, wind power accounted for a stunning quarter of the energy mix last year, not just overtaking coal but breezily blowing past it. This makes wind power the second-biggest source of energy generation in the State of Texas, coming in behind natural gas, according to data from Texan grid operator the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (Ercot).”

Texas always surprises you.

Including when it gets hit by crazy winter storms and lots of its wind turbines freeze!

That is unlikely to be an ongoing, recurrent problem. Because: Texas.

[Photo: Billy H.C. Kwok and Bloomberg]