States’ goals for renewables rise
At least four states have boosted their goals for expanding renewable energy this year, joining several others that are directing power generators to produce more electricity from wind turbines, solar panels and other nonpolluting sources.
These mandates are increasingly driving the development of renewables nationwide, accounting for about half the growth in clean energy nationwide, according to the National Council of State Legislatures, a bipartisan group that represents state lawmakers. The latest states to adopt more aggressive goals for expanding clean energy are New Mexico, Washington, Nevada and Maryland.
Washington has vowed to get 100 percent of its power from renewable energy by 2045. Nevada plans to reach the same goal by 2050.
States are adopting the ambitious mandates as the
federal government reverses or weakens initiatives aimed at addressing climate change. The Trump administration, for example, pulled out of the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and has moved to scale back emission standards for vehicles and power plants.
“It’s a political opportunity for states that want to show green credentials to differentiate from what is going on at the federal level,” said Roman Kramarchuk, head of energy policy and technology analytics for the research company S&P Global Platts.
Today, 37 states have renewable energy directives, including 29 states that require electricity suppliers to provide a certain share of power from renewable sources and eight that have nonbinding renewable goals, according to the Energy Department.
The upgrading of state renewable energy goals reflects a growing public concern about rising global temperatures, lower costs to develop wind and solar farms, and the prospect of economic development.
“If you can build out an
industry, you can get jobs,” said Meg McIntosh, senior director of North American power and renewables at the research company IHS Markit.
The Labor Department projects that solar installers will be the single fastest growing occupation from now until 2026 and that wind turbine service technicians will be the fourth fastest.
Solar installers earn about $39,500 a year, and wind turbine technicians earn nearly $54,000.
In Texas, regulators set a renewable energy standard in 1999 of reaching 5,000 megawatts of renewable generating capacity by 2015 and 10,000 megawatts by 2025. Texas surpassed its 2025 target in 2009, according to the Energy Department. A megawatt can power about 200 Texas homes on a hot summer day.
On the forefront
The state’s grid manager, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, reported that Texas recorded 26,045 megawatts of registered renewable energy in 2017, more than 2½ times the state’s 2025 goal. The state’s wind industry accounts for most of that generation.
The last time Texas modified its renewable energy
standard was in 2005. But the state has been at the forefront of renewable energy development, accounting for more than 25 percent of total wind power generated in the country in each of the past three years, according to the Energy Department.
Texas built more wind projects than any other state during the first quarter, nearly 6,150 megawatts of generation, greater than the total capacity of windgenerated power in California, according to the American Wind Energy Association, a trade group in Washington.
The rapid pace of development reflects the abundance of wind and its value as a low-cost power source in a state that rewards lowcost producers. Texas also invested in transmission capability to bring power from remote rural areas to major population centers. And more corporate buyers are acquiring power directly from wind producers through power purchase agreements.
About 70 percent of the solar capacity in Texas in the past two years has been bought by corporate and industrial customers, according to IHS Markit.