As political winds shift, Austin braces for renewable energy impact ...Middle East

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This story is supported by the Pulitzer Center and is part of the “Texas Energy Crossroads” project, a partnership between The Hill and Nexstar Texas stations examining the oil and gas industry and the politics surrounding it following President Trump’s second inauguration.

AUSTIN (KXAN) – As Valerie Paxton describes it, the solar array at the La Loma Community Solar Farm is performing a sort of "magic" – the panels quietly transforming the sun’s rays into power delivered to the grid for Austin residents.

"Even on a day like today, they're generating electricity," she said, looking at the cloudy, gray sky.

In February, Paxton guided KXAN on a tour of the east Austin facility tucked, practically unseen behind a fence, in a residential neighborhood blocks away from an elementary school. La Loma represents just a fraction of Austin Energy’s renewable energy portfolio. 

The city-owned utility buys wind and solar energy from far-flung West Texas, the Panhandle and the South Texas coastal plains. Solar and wind combined, harnessed from 17 locations, account for 49% of the power the utility purchases. Natural gas and nuclear account for 38%, according to Austin Energy.

Austin Energy’s investment in renewables reflects – rather than diverges from – Texas’ energy market. With abundant sun, wind and space – and years of dedicated investment – Texas leads the country in renewable energy production by a long shot. 

Austin Energy purchases power from generators across the state, including multiple wind and solar farms, a nuclear power plant, gas powered energy, coal and more. Source: Austin Energy (KXAN Infographic/David Barer)

On one mild, partly cloudy mid-February day, for example, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ real-time energy load chart showed wind and solar power combined were providing almost 50% of the state’s power at noon.

But the proverbial winds of change appear to be shifting – and not in a favorable direction for solar and wind.

‘We're not going to do the wind thing’

From Washington, D.C., newly sworn in President Donald Trump has been blunt in his disapproval of wind and solar. On day one, he took executive action to pause new leases for those energy sources on federal lands and waters citing concerns it "degrades" natural landscapes and fails to serve energy consumers.

"We're not going to do the wind thing. Wind – big ugly windmills," Trump said at his inauguration. "They ruin your neighborhood ... If you have a house that's near a windmill, guess what? Your house is worth less than half."

Not everyone shares his feelings. Industry experts KXAN spoke with said renewables are relatively cheap, increase our energy independence, improve grid reliability, lower carbon emissions, and provide thousands of jobs and billions in economic impact nationwide.

But headwinds facing the industry are coming from within the state, too. More than a dozen bills have been filed at the Capitol that could impact permitting, regulation, expansion and taxation of wind and solar power, a KXAN investigation found.

Pending legislation

One of those bills, Senate Bill 383 by Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, would prohibit connecting an offshore wind energy facility to the grid if it would “negatively impact previously established industries,” like tourism, fishing and shipping, or would violate "community values" relying on those industries.

Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, filed multiple bills targeting renewables. Patterson’s House Bill 1897 shares similarities with Middleton’s offshore wind energy regulation legislation. 

Another one of Patterson’s, House Bill 560, would require certain electric utilities or wind power generators to apply to the Federal Aviation Administration to implement light pollution mitigation technology. 

And another piece of legislation, Senate Bill 819 by Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, would add permitting, fees and regulatory requirements on new solar and wind generation projects over 10 megawatts, which is enough to power roughly 2,500 homes during peak hours, according to ERCOT.

Renewable projects existing before Sept. 1, 2025, would not need to be placed under the permitting rules unless they increased power output by 5 megawatts, or “materially” changed the placement of the generation facilities, the bill states. An additional nine state senators have joined Kolkhorst as authors on the bill. All the authors are Republicans except one, Juan Hinojosa, a Democrat whose district is primarily in the Rio Grande Valley but stretches up to Corpus Christi Bay.

Complex tug-of-war

Kolkhorst’s bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Business and Commerce. If passed, it would require notice of applications and a public meeting on new projects, Public Utility Commission permitting and environmental impact reviews by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Fees would go into a “renewable energy generation facility cleanup fund.” Unless a neighbor agreed to a waiver, wind turbines would have to be at least 3,000 feet from property lines. Solar arrays would have to be set back at least 100 feet from property lines and 200 feet from habitable structures.

“Balancing private property rights, the need to increase electric generation, and the need to mitigate unreasonable impacts of renewable energy generation facilities on wildlife, water, and land in this state is in the public interest,” the bill states.

For comparison, the “statewide spacing rule” requires oil and gas wells be drilled at least 467 feet from property lines, although exceptions can be granted, according to the Texas Administrative Code.

Kolkhorst’s bill provides a look at the myriad of competing interests battling in an ongoing legislative tug-of-war over how, and to what extent, renewables should be regulated.

In an interview at the Capitol, Kolkhorst told KXAN her bill is about protecting the environment and landowners. Solar and wind are also intermittent, she said, not always “reliable” and are “causing a strain on some of our resources,” she added.

“You cannot put solar panels over thousands of acres and not think that there's not a natural resource issue out there,” Kolkhorst said.

She pushed back and told KXAN to "tap the brakes" when asked about whether her bill would create more red tape for wind farms to operate.

“It's not red tape," said Kolkhorst. "It is a protection for landowners. It is the right thing to do for Texas.”

She told KXAN she supports the president's pause on new federal wind projects saying, as a coastal lawmaker, she doesn't want to "see them out in our bays and estuaries, these big windmills."

"We're number one in wind, number one in solar; I'm not sure that's something to brag about."

Proponents of renewable energy disagree. A trade industry executive and university professor – both experts in renewables – told KXAN the Texas grid, and customers, benefit from power that is cheaper to produce. The environment benefits from clean energy production, and landowners and local governments reap the financial rewards.

This is Kolkhorst’s second crack at the bill. She filed similar legislation in 2023 that passed the Senate but stalled in the House. Numerous people testified for and against the bill back in 2023, illustrating how regulating renewables doesn’t divide neatly along party lines.

Kolkhorst noted a rift on the issue between some environmental and conservation groups.

“A lot of times … we think the two actually mesh; environmental and conservation, they should come together,” Kolkhorst said at the 2023 hearing. “On this issue it is going to be a little different.”

Kolkhorst mentioned the Devil’s River Conservancy, a group representing interests around that remote spring-fed river widely considered the most pristine in Texas. The group has opposed a wind turbine project near the river for multiple reasons including foreign ownership and impact on the environment.

Money is also at stake, both for governments and landowners, Kolkhorst acknowledged at the 2023 hearing. She mentioned a constituent of hers received a proposition to provide 30 acres of their land for a solar project. In return, they would receive nearly $50,000 a year for the next 40 years.

“That is really good money," Kolkhorst said. "That is mailbox money."

Kolkhorst also noted billions of federal dollars come to Texas for renewable energy products through the Inflation Reduction Act.

She said her 2023 bill was “not meant to at all stop, because it will not stop … renewables. I do think that it is time that, with all of the billions of dollars of federal money that is moving our way, that we take a moment to make sure that we know what is going on and that our beloved Texas is not harmed.”

Jeff Clark also attended the 2023 hearing and testified against Kolkhorst’s bill. He is president of the Advanced Power Alliance, a trade group that advocates for renewable energy development and investment.

“I'm a believer in unlocking American energy," Clark told KXAN. "And I think that you have to unlock all American energy."

In February, Clark met with KXAN at the Helena Energy Center about 150 miles south of Austin in Bee County. About 50 miles farther south is the Karankawa wind farm by the town of Mathis, one of the places where Austin Energy gets its power.

Bee County, the location of the Helena Energy Center, is strongly conservative. Nearby, a TRUMP flag waved outside one home with the windmills visible in the distance. Trump easily won this county in November by a margin of 70-30% over Vice President Kamala Harris. In 2022, Gov. Greg Abbott won re-election by a vote of 68-31% over Beto O'Rourke.

Against that backdrop, the 18,000-acre Helena Energy Center's towering wind turbines turn out 268 megawatts of energy, while the solar array pumps another 250 megawatts onto Texas' grid. In total, that's enough to power about 110,000 homes, according to Orsted, the company running the facility.

And with power comes money. The facility estimates it will inject $114 million into the local tax base to support local schools and emergency services, according to the company.

Clark led KXAN through the energy center’s solar panels and wind turbines, tracing his hand through the air as the blades arced across the sky hundreds of feet above the ground.

“A lot of the rhetoric attacking clean energy is because it works so well,” he said. “People see it as a threat. They see it as competition, rather than embracing what I believe is the ‘all-of-the above, more-of-everything’ approach.”

For years, Texas’ leadership has largely supported that "all-of-the-above" policy – a strategy not currently shared by the White House.

Decades in the making

Over the past 20 years, as Texas solidified its place as the country’s leader in renewables, the state government has been helmed completely by conservative leadership.

“One thing we know about in Texas is energy,” former Gov. Rick Perry told a group at Texas Tech University in 2010. “Thanks to a new generation of hard-working visionaries, Texas is again leading the way on the renewable energy front.”

Perry, who served as U.S. Secretary of Energy during Trump's first administration, championed Texas' status as the "largest wind energy producing state" in the country by "a substantial margin." He said forward-thinking legislation passed in 2005 had set the stage for renewable investment by setting a goal of producing over 5,880 megawatts of renewable capacity by 2015.

“Then we really set our sights high and said we were going to hit 10,000 megawatts by 2025,” Perry told the crowd in 2010.

Texas blew past that goal years ago. In 2022, Texas wind energy alone generated over 40,500 megawatts – a quarter of all U.S. wind-produced energy, according to the Texas Comptroller’s Office.

Last April, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott “touted Texas as the No. 1 state for wind-powered generation and the top state in the nation for utility-scale solar, with fossil fuel power serving as the backbone of the Texas grid,” according to a news release. In December, he proclaimed Texas as the “energy capital of the world."

"Texas is leading the way with our all-of-the-above energy strategy, with more solar and wind jobs than any other state," the governor boasted in a post on X. "Texas is also #1 for wind energy and #1 for solar energy."

Clark says the bottom line is undeniable: renewables provide cheap and plentiful power. They free up natural gas for export to allies, and they inject money into local economies, he said.

"Frankly, that's the most conservative thing you can do is produce your own energy," he added. "Not everyone has oil and gas under their feet. But everyone has wind and sun over their heads."

Across the way, KXAN spoke with Roy Velasquez, 75, whose backyard overlooks the white windmills dotting the landscape. When it comes to his wallet, he said he personally hasn't seen a benefit.

"It doesn't bother me," he said about the view. "But they're not helping me on anything."

A Texas Comptroller report from 2023 highlights the economic impact. The average annual wage for wind power generation jobs was over $109,000, and the gross domestic product for wind electric power generation in 2021 was over $1.7 billion.

According to a University of Texas study published in January, the current fleet of utility-scale wind, solar and energy storage projects would generate $12.3 billion over their lifetime in new tax revenue for local communities. The study used a 30-year lifetime for wind and solar, and a half that for battery storage.

Even with tax incentives, the study notes renewable projects can provide significant revenue through taxes to counties and schools – “especially for rural counties that generally have a smaller tax base than others.”

It is not clear yet how state legislation and federal rules will affect renewable energy expansion in Texas.

Murky forecast

Trump’s moratorium on federal land use for renewable energy expansion has less of an impact on Texas, where little land is federally owned. The Helena Energy Center, like most solar and wind farms in the state, is leased from private landowners.

In mid-February, Trump established the National Energy Dominance Council to advise him on how to “make America energy dominant," according to the executive order. The council will recommend avenues for "cutting red tape" and eliminating "longstanding, but unnecessary, regulation.”

America has plentiful natural resources, the order points out, before it goes on to list 11 “amazing natural assets,” including a number of fossil fuels like crude oil, natural gas, coal, as well as uranium, biofuels, hydroelectric energy and minerals. There is no mention of wind or solar energy.

Speaking to a conference in London in February, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Britain’s goal to have net-zero emissions by mid-century was a “sinister” and “terrible goal,” according to Reuters and other published reports.

Wright told those listening that energy-intensive production would simply move elsewhere from the United Kingdom, and the switch to clean energy was only “impoverishing your own citizens in a delusion that this is somehow going to make the world a better place,” according to media reports.

Back in Texas, Clark said this current political climate is creating uncertainty for his industry. He remains "concerned about the immediate future" of renewable energy over the next four years.

“If America wants to remain competitive globally, it's going to be very difficult to turn our backs on renewable energy,” Clark said.

KXAN asked Clark to respond to Trump's criticism of his industry when it comes to dead birds and lowered property values.

"I would extend an invitation to anybody in the administration to come out and visit this project with us if they would like," said Clark, adding that the general rhetoric attacking clean energy, including bird deaths, is overblown.

Potential slowdown

While there is a potential for a slowdown, renewable energy is far too entrenched, and the benefits too great, for it to be completely reversed, according to Brian Korgel, the director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin.

"It keeps prices of electricity down for Texas consumers, helps keep the lights on," Korgel said. "It's great for landowners. It's a great way for people to actually make money on energy in Texas. And it's fundamental to the energy mix of Texas right now."

A disincentive to do wind and solar projects could hurt the industry, Korgel said. Still, he expects renewables will “definitely continue to expand” in the state. Consumers typically care more about how much they're paying – and how reliable the energy is – rather than where it comes from, Korgel said.

Texas is unique. It is the only state in the continental U.S. to have its own power grid, operated by ERCOT, separate from the massive Eastern and Western Interconnection grids used by the rest of the lower 48 states.

In recent years, Texas’ power grid has been strained multiple times, under sweltering summer heat and freezing winter storms, due to high demand.

In February 2021, Texas’ grid independence came under widespread scrutiny when winter storms swept through. Power generators, including gas and wind, were knocked offline. The energy crunch took Texas to the brink of a statewide grid collapse and led to forced blackouts that left over 4 million Texans without power amid frigid temperatures. The Department of State Health Services put the death toll at 246.

Since then, demand continues to increase dramatically.

Last June, ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas laid out the energy projections for Texas to the Senate Committee on Business and Commerce. Texas would nearly double its peak demand on the ERCOT grid in about six years, he said. Peak demand is when demand for electricity is highest, for example, mid-afternoon on the hottest days of summer or the coldest days of winter.

"It's a really significant impact," Vegas told the committee. "We really need to think about how we are responsive to that and support the generation that needs to be developed and the transmission that needs to be developed."

With demand increasing, renewables are “fundamental to the energy mix of Texas right now,” said Korgel. Over a quarter of Texas’ energy comes from wind now, he added.

“You can't just take away a fourth of the grid power,” Korgel said.

Asked if wind and solar are needed to keep Texas' grid stable, Korgel replied: "Absolutely."

Austin Energy, one of the country's largest publicly owned electric utilities, said renewable energy is "essential" despite the oncoming national headwind.

"Austin Energy has a long, proud history of leading Texas in renewable energy investments as part of our diverse energy portfolio," the utility said in a statement to KXAN. "With the projected growth in local and statewide energy demand over the next decade, renewables will continue to be essential in meeting the energy needs of our community and maintaining a reliable energy grid."

KXAN Graphic Artist Wendy Gonzalez, Senior Science Reporter/Creative Producer Eric Henrikson, Director of Investigations & Innovation Josh Hinkle, Investigative Photojournalist Chris Nelson, Digital Special Projects Developer Robert Sims and Digital Director Kate Winkle contributed to this report.

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