Senate Bill 624, which cleared the Texas Senate by a 21-9 vote, is an effort by Republicans to shift the state’s power generation away from renewable sources, such as wind and solar power, and back toward natural gas-fired generation, in the name of reliability.The bill would force renewable energy project developers in Texas to pay a new yearly fee for their operations, compared to fossil fuel projects, which would pay nothing.
The bill also retroactively applies to renewable projects that are online, effectively forcing developers to shut their doors while they undergo a lengthy bureaucratic review process for the second time. S.B. 624 would grant the utility commission the ability to enter project sites without warning and to remove clean energy capacity in Texas that has already been installed, should it deem it has “not met” the new regulatory standards.
The bill now goes to the House. There are just three weeks before the Texas legislature concludes its session, and members also have to grapple with other major energy-focused bills the Senate punted to them just weeks earlier.