ALIYAH FORMONT: Texas Needs To Fix Its Energy Strategy

Texas is America’s manufacturing and energy export powerhouse. If the Trump administration envisions a true American energy renaissance on the horizon, Texas must lead.

But before Texas can lead, it must get its own grid in order. Decades of federal and state subsidies—the latter now thankfully dead—have powered an overinvestment in periodic wind and solar power, raising costs and threatening grid reliability.

There are bills before the Texas Legislature to bring balance back to Texas’ electric grid, but well-heeled wind and solar lobbyists see those as a threat, raising the temperature inside of Texas’s pink-hued capitol.

The lobbyists are in town to fight against bills such as Texas state Rep. Cody Harris’ House Bill 14 (bill to expand nuclear technology) and state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst’s Senate Bill 819 (bill to revamp the permitting process for unreliable energy). More than 90 people registered to testify on Kolkhorst’s bill alone.

What makes the debate over Texas’ energy particularly intriguing is the intense polarization between competing energy sources. The debate usually goes like this: Democrats advocate for their “green” agenda, demanding more and more subsidies for wind and solar.

In response, Republicans staunchly support natural gas, Texas’ most abundant and reliable energy source. As the majority party, you’d think the GOP’s keen interest in reliable and economically favorable energy sources would reflect the Texas grid.

But this isn’t what we see on the Texas grid; we continue the expansion of unreliable energy—supported by both Democrats and Republicans.

The energy debate misses the largest issue facing the Texas energy grid—the fact that reliable and unreliable energy are valued the same in our current market.