Conservative states with a hands-off approach to development, such as Texas and Oklahoma, have become wind and solar energy dynamos in recent years. But a simultaneous push by Republicans in Washington and in Sun Belt State Capitals To reduce tax stimuli And tighter permitted regulations threatens to browse the boom with renewable energy from the red state.
The One-Twee Punch underlines the switch from the Republicans of embracing an “all-of-the-above” approach to a one-sided effort to return to fossil fuels. Its success would relax for four years of democratic efforts to tackle climate change and to promote a clean energy economy.
The shift is particularly shocking in Texas, the best wind force producer in the country, who is second for California in Solar energy And Industrial battery storage. Renewable energy companies have announced plans for $ 64 billion in new investments in Texas, especially for projects for solar and battery storage, since Democrats in Washington adopted the inflation reduction law in August 2022. Investments in Texas would only deepen the next five largest states.
But on Tuesday, the Republicans started working in the congress on legislation that would reverse tax credits for low -carbon energy, with the help of rules that ensure that the account could reach President Trump with simple majorities in the house and the Senate.
Instead of objecting, the Senate in Texas controlled by the Republicans and the State House is currently considering-different regulatory accounts to limit solar and wind projects in favor of new natural gas factories. For a long time the party of limited regulations and free markets, the Republicans are now trying to impose new rules on how electricity should be produced.
“That is the choice that these legislators have to make: ideology or pragmatism,” said Doug Lewin, an energy consultant who writes a newsletter aimed at the Texas electricity grid. “Do you hate so very renewable energy sources that you are willing to eliminate the Texas economy with it?”
Proponents of the new accounts say that the goal is practical – to increase reliability and to balance the effects of federal subsidies for renewable power.
Representative Jared Patterterson, a Republican from the suburb of Dallas, called it ‘The Playing Field’, while regretted the ‘several benefits in the market’ enjoyed by renewable energy, at least provisionally. He sponsored an account that would force wind and sun companies to pay backup power.
In Texas the effort comes in a potentially challenging time for the PowerNet. Energy-intensive companies, including new factories and massive data centers for artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies, have partially come to the state because of the abundant and relatively cheap power.
At the same time, a warming planet has generated a record summer heat and added to that power question. It was expected that a heat wave would crush the earlier records for Electricity Store for May this week.
The electrical reliability council of Texas, or Ercot, the Raster Manager of the State, predicts ask for power Possibly to double within five years. Accounts that limit renewable energy sources would strengthen existing risks, Pablo Vegas, the Chief Executive of Ercot, said this month.
But the battle for energy in the United States has become increasingly ideological. Mr. Trump has supported Cut renewable energy Tax credits and steps taken to block new wind projects. Seventeen states, led by New York, have sued in response. Texas was not among them.
In Oklahoma, where companies have announced plans to invest $ 2 billion in wind, solar and battery projects since 2022, anti-renewable Republican legislators and the attorney-general of the State against Govin Stitt, a republican who regards itself as a pro-business.
“If I tried to limit wind energy and say,” Oh, I don’t want the wind energy to happen “, I don’t do the same as in California by trying to limit fossil fuels?” Mr Stitt asked in an interview. “You believe in a free market, or you don’t do it, right?”
For years, Texas maintained its freewheeling position in relation to energy development, even while other states have spent more restrictions on power plants. In Iowa, more than a dozen provinces have effectively blocked New wind turbines. The largest province of California has placed a moratorium On large solar panels.
“Texas has maintained that it is easy,” says Devin Hartman, director of energy and environmental policy at the R Street Institute, a moderate republican interest group. “But,” he added, “they are about to change that.”
Legislation that has already been assumed that the Senate of the State would create a new permit process for renewable energy projects. For example, new wind projects should be returned at least 3000 feet of adjacent ownership lines, and state rulers could pronounce a veto about new installations for renewable energy.
Another bill would require utilities to compensate for new wind and solar generation with an equal amount of “passable” capacity, which means that the power generation can be switched on quickly, usually with natural gas.
“It is not injured to ask the question, how many shipping do we need for a reliable system?” said Katie Coleman, a lobbyist for the Texas Association of Manufacturers.
But energy experts warn that new natural gas plants will be confronted A global backlog on orders of guest turbines. New gas projects that are not already developing will probably not come online before 2030, said John Ketchum, the Chief Executive of Nextera Energy, one of the largest electricity producers in the country.
Almost 91 percent of the electric capacity in line to connect to the grid in the next six years are solar, wind or battery plants, According to Ercot data. Only about 8 percent are new gas factories.
Even with a fund created by the State to subsidize new natural gas -fired power plants, seven of the 17 gas power projects that are eligible for loans with low interest rates are no longer ahead.
“Gast turbines are hard to get,” said Rob Minter, senior vice president of government and regulatory matters at Engie North America, who builds both renewable and gas -fired power plants. In February, the company withdrew two applications to build subsidized gas factories via the Texas Fund, with reference to delays when buying equipment.
“So that leaves renewable energy sources,” he added, “and we have the option to put it on the ground in a few years, not five or 10.”
The legislative power has not influenced that message. The house in Texas could soon vote for a bill to require existing wind and solar generators to obtain backup power to supplement the hours in which the sun does not shine or the wind is not windy. The Senate has already passed it on.
“These accounts would cause an interest through the heart of the industry,” said Judd Messer, vice -president of the Texas of the Advanced Power Alliance, a trade group for clean energy industry.
The debate on electricity production has been an important political problem in Texas since 2021, when a winter storm paralyzed the electricity grid and more than 240 people died. A federal study showed that the cold weather caused significant failures in plants with natural gas, which can struggle in extreme heat and cold.
Many Republicans blamed wind and solar energy anyway.
As with many of the country, the Texas electricity costs have already risen. In February, the costs for feeding a typical house in the United States increased to around $ 149 a month, an increase of approximately $ 4 compared to a year earlier, according to the Energy Information Administration.
And William W. Hogan, who helped in designing the Texas electricity market and is now a professor in the global energy policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, said that the urge to favor the generation of fossil fuels would probably increase the costs without increasing reliability.
“It’s a new thumb on the scale,” said Mr. Hogan.
A Study last month Commissioned by the Texas Association of Business, concluded that limiting renewable development in Texas could increase electricity prices by 14 percent by 2035 and possibly leave to 620,000 houses without electricity during extreme weather conditions.
Ed Hirs, an economist and Energy Fellow at the University of Houston, said that the state needs more natural gas capacity to walk during emergency situations. But he does not believe that the solution is to limit renewable energy.
“Without that growth of renewable energy sources,” he said, “is Texas’s grid in the water, as well as the economy.”
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