According to a Wall Street Journal report, solar energy is fast catching up with Texas’s wind power generation. Several companies are developing solar projects, expected to reach completion in 2023, and many others are shifting to this renewable power generation form in their operations.
Solar may reinforce Texas’ position as the leading renewable-energy producer in the U.S. Industry experts even expect the state to surpass California’s solar capacity in the coming years.
Solar projects in Texas: increasing
In recent years, wind power has made Texas become the leading renewable-energy producer in the United States. However, the increase in solar projects in the state has led experts to believe Texas could become a clean power generation national leader.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, this solar-trend in the state is even more visible with Invenergy LLC’s $1.6 billion solar farm project in Northeast Dallas. In this regard, the Samson Solar Energy Center is expected to be the largest in the country by 2023.
In addition, several companies are now powering their activities through solar-energy. For instance, AT&T Inc. and Alphabet Inc. (a Google company) have contracted solar-power purchase agreements to supply enough electricity for more than 300 thousand homes.
Forecasts conclude solar-farm development in Texas will accelerate in the coming years. A reason behind this increasing trend will be a fall in costs and a growing demand for cleaner power generation.
The growth in solar projects now claims a much larger share of Texas’ power market dominated by wind farms and natural gas electricity plants. Ted Romaine, Invenergy’s senior vice president, told the WSJ, solar has the potential to boost electricity supplies in a better way than wind, which often peaks at night.
Solar improvements: a natural trend?
According to industry experts, solar is natural for states like Texas. With an already robust deployed wind capacity, the state is expected to surpass the existing gap between wind and solar by 2023 through 21 thousand megawatts of solar installations.
Currently, California holds the leading position regarding solar developments, with more than 13 thousand MW of large-scale solar capacity. However, the east-southern state is the leader in renewables overall with over 29 thousand MW of both wind and solar generation.
A federal tax credit available to solar-project developers increases the expectation around an anticipated growth in the industry by 2022.
In this sense, solar-power advocates foresee this trend to be renewed under President-elect Joe Biden. His support for the energy transition has encouraged several project-developers regardless of tax credits. Even more robust demand is expected to come for solar projects, helping achieve carbon-reduction goals.
