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Solar Power In Texas Essay

457 Words2 Pages

The Problem with Solar Power in Texas

The phrase “everything's bigger in Texas” seems to be true in many aspects, particularly energy. Texas is the lead producer of both natural gas and wind energy within the United States. According to the National Renewable Energy Lab, Texas had a total estimated technical potential for concentrating solar power of 22,786,750 Gigawatt-Hours in 2014. That’s near 20.2% of total potential for all of United States. However, not much of the available land has been utilized for this purpose. Texas, as of 2015, actually has about 530 megawatts of cumulative installed solar capacity. This is enough to power more than 50,000 homes, yet it is behind Hawaii, New York, Nevada, and Virginia. So, why does this dichotomy between solar power and the flourishing of other forms of energy exist?

I believe that solar power is not being pushed in Texas because it is constantly presented as a partisan issue. Since the mid-2000’s, energy policy has taken a shift from investment oriented to political stance. That’s not to say that solar energy is a political statement so much as it is viewed as one in a policy making setting. There are also few policies in Texas that hold incentives for those who engage in solar power such as tax decreases or rebates. Solar investment is simply …show more content…

Texas developers tend to lean more towards wind energy, as it is familiar to investors and somewhat cheaper. One of the few incentivizing federal policies that does exist is the solar investment tax credit. This is a 30 percent tax credit which is available to commercial and home-based solar projects. Even this stimulus is not enough as electricity in Texas tends to be cheap along with fuel. This makes both electric power and natural gas obvious options in terms of trends in consumer

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