Texas is growing fast with wind and solar power.
It would only take one third of the solar and wind energy projects that have already been proposed to completely phase out coal in the state, according to a new study.
President Joe Biden wants the US to have a carbon-free power sector by the year 2035.
The state's energy grid is a mess, and it is standing in the way of a faster transition in Texas away from coal and towards renewable energy.
Daniel Cohan, one of the study's co-authors, told Fortune that transmission lines are slowing down the growth of wind and solar.
Texas is one of the most energy-rich states in the country.
It has more than just fossil fuels going for it.
Texas leads the nation in wind power generation, which accounts for 20% of the state's energy usage, while the state's solar power industry is growing fast.
Texas is the largest coal consumer in the country, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel, and its phaseout is a key to achieving U.S. President Joe Biden's ambitious climate goals.
As the nation's largest coal consumer, and biggest electricity consumer in general, how coal is phased out and replaced with clean energy in Texas would be crucial to meeting any nationwide climate agenda, and to lead other states in the inevitable energy transition.
The number of new proposals for solar and wind farms has doubled since June 2020, when dozens of new renewable energy projects were approved.
The state's electrical grid is a mess.
Different parts of the state can produce more energy. In west Texas, the winds are strongest at night, but tend to pick up in the afternoon. You need a power grid.
It's not always windy and not always sunny, but it's almost always windy in Texas, according to a study.
Without an up-to-date network of transmission lines, the energy transition in Texas will have to wait.
When Texas was hit by a historic deep freeze in February of 2021. Lawmakers blamed wind power and renewable energy for failing during the storm, but the main culprit was the electrical grid's dated infrastructure and aging transmission lines. ERCOT, the private company that manages the electrical grid in Texas, came under fire after the storm for cutting corners and loosened regulations.
The electrical transmission infrastructure could soon be updated. In the recently approved infrastructure bill, the president laid out a financing plan worth over 15 billion dollars to construct thousands of miles of new lines and upgrade existing ones.
ERCOT has always been against integrating with the national grids, but it is starting to do so through the ongoing Southern Cross Transmission project.
Even though the infrastructure bill is a good start, more attention and investment is needed to update the country's power system.
He said that the infrastructure bill was only a small step forward for transmission.
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