The Leading State for Renewable Energy Generation is… Texas?

Texas wants you to think it’s all pump jacks and drilling rigs, but the truth is that it’s every bit as much Greta Thunberg in a cowboy hat.

That’s right. The Lone Star State has emerged, by a long shot, as the nation’s leader in renewable energy generation, according to new data providing a 2024 year-in-review snapshot for the renewables industry released by the US Energy Information Administration. Yeehaw.

Hook ’Em (Up to the Solar Grid)

Big picture: 2024 was a pretty big year for the expansion of utility-scale renewables in the US. Wind power, the leading renewable source, saw an almost 8% increase in generation last year, while solar power was up a remarkable 32%. All told, renewables now count for some 22% of the country’s total electricity, up about 1%, while coal power fell about 1% in the mix to just 15% (natural gas still powers the country, providing around 43% of all electricity, roughly flat from the year before).

And surprising as it may be for a self-proclaimed MAGA playpen, Texas is leading the way in renewables expansion and implementation:

• Last year, Texas generated a remarkable 169,000 gigawatt-hours through wind, utility-scale solar, and small-scale solar power. 
• That’s way more than runner-up California’s 92,316 gigawatt-hours generated through renewables (it may be time to rethink that “Don’t California my Texas” phrase that keeps getting thrown around). Iowa ranks a distant third, as no other states in the union can compete with the prowess of California and Texas in renewable generation.

Free Markets: Likely driving some of Texas’s success? The owners of power plants are required to compete on price. That’s in contrast to the rest of the country, where state regulations guarantee profits for power plant operators. The system drew national attention when a catastrophic winter storm crippled the power grid in 2021. But it’s been disaster-free since and has been great for incentivizing players to develop renewables infrastructure. “Texas is the most innovative, most interesting market, and clean energy is thriving because it makes sense economically,” Ric O’Connell, executive director of renewables-focused non-profit GridLab, recently told Inside Climate News.