Texas Legislature Rejects Anti-Renewable Bills: What It Means for Solar

Here’s some good news, dear reader! In a major win for supporters of Texas renewable energy legislation, several controversial bills aimed at curbing clean power development failed to pass in the 2025 legislative session. Although they gained traction in the Senate, proposals like SB 388, SB 715, and SB 819 were ultimately left to die on the House floor at the last minute. As a result, our state’s massive forward momentum in solar and wind energy growth was preserved.

What Were These Bills Trying to Do?

Each of the bills targeted Texas’s fast-growing solar and wind sectors in different ways. Specifically:

SB 388: Required 50% of new generation on the ERCOT grid to come from “dispatchable” sources—explicitly excluding batteries and favoring natural gas over renewables.
SB 715: Imposed retroactive mandates requiring existing wind and solar farms to secure backup generation, adding costly and burdensome requirements.
SB 819: Added new permitting hurdles for renewable projects over 10 MW, including environmental reviews and subjective “public interest” tests.

In short: the bills threatened to stall clean energy investment, limit grid innovation, and drive up long-term costs. (And now Big Oil lobbyists are sad – boo hoo)

Why These Bills Failed

While the bills passed the Texas Senate, they ultimately died in the House—mostly due to a combination of procedural delays, strategic pushback, and economic pragmatism. From the outset, it’s pretty clear the bill’s sponsors were in for a fight:

Legislative Deadlines: The bills were not prioritized for House debate and expired when the legislative session ended. Therefore, no action was taken in time.
Bipartisan Opposition: A wide-ranging coalition of clean energy advocates, manufacturers, landowners, and even some oil and gas companies opposed the measures. Consequently, concerns about risks to jobs, rural economies, and affordability gained traction.
Economic Concerns: Critics emphasized that the bills would destabilize the market, discourage investment, and lead to higher electricity prices. As such, they lost key support from stakeholders.
Public Sentiment: Polls showed broad support for renewables, even among conservative voters—which in turn added political risk for legislators backing anti-solar policy.
Legal & Practical Issues: Proposals like SB 715 raised retroactive enforcement concerns and would have forced expensive, impractical upgrades on existing systems. Not surprisingly, this became a major sticking point.

What Industry Experts Are Saying

“You can’t kill renewables and grow data centres in Texas in the next five years. It’s just not possible.”

— Kay McCall, Renewable Energy Alliance Houston

“This bill will kill renewable energy in Texas, plain and simple… We cannot pit energy resources against each other.”

— Jeff Clark, CEO, Advanced Power Alliance

“The failure of these three bills is a victory for ratepayers. Renewable energy sources are an indispensable part of powering the state.”

— Adrian Shelley, Director, Public Citizen Texas

So…What Does This Mean for Texas Grid-Scale Solar Development?

The defeat of these anti-renewable bills sends a strong message: Texas is open for clean energy business. In other words, progress can continue.

For commercial property owners and grid-scale utility operators planning future energy investments, this outcome removes a major source of policy uncertainty. Wind, Solar and battery storage remain attractive, proven strategies for reducing costs and increasing operational resilience in the Texas energy market.

I’d call that a win for nearly everyone. And looking ahead, momentum seems likely to continue -at least at the state level. (Yes, we need to also consider all of this pending federal action to roll-back the ITC solar tax incentives. That wouldn’t help matters for anyone. And that’s a topic for a related blog.)

What’s Next?

While the worst of this year’s legislative threats have passed, similar proposals may (ok let’s count on it) return in future Texas legislative sessions. Therefore, ongoing education and advocacy is going to be essential to preserve progress and help ensure Texas continues to lead in renewable energy innovation. I

At NATiVE Solar, we’re proud to be part of that future—helping businesses, schools, and communities build resilient, high-performance energy systems across the state. Meanwhile, we’re going to keep our eyes on all-things-solar and related to our electrical grid. And we’ll keep you informed!