Senate passes SB 819 that critics say threatens needed wind and solar farm power needed for the Texas grid
Despite broad opposition from the rural Texans its author says it would protect, a bill that would put new restrictions on development of renewable energy has sailed through the Senate . Critics say the measure would drastically slow much-needed new supply from solar and wind farms, with a solar industry trade group calling the requirements onerous and unfairly applied only to renewables.
It’s the latest Senate bill that could hinder the statewide grid’s ability to keep up with a predicted explosion in demand for electricity. Tuesday’s 22-9 vote came after an unusually packed committee hearing in late March. That discussion on Senate Bill 819 drew a mixed crowd of rural Texans, many of whom spoke against proposed regulations they say threaten their land rights by adding new restrictions on wind and solar sites without adding any to traditional power plants or natural gas lines. RELATED: Natural gas-boosting bill aims to stabilize Texas grid. It could make it worse. “We have probably, I don’t know, 70 suits in the back of the room, which means this is heavily, heavily, heavily lobbied,” bill author Sen. Lois Kolkhorst said in her opening remarks. “I innocently bring this bill from Senate District 18 and for all rural folks out there across the great state of Texas.” But as the “suits” came up one by one to speak in opposition, it became clear it wasn’t a wall of Austin lobbyists. Rather, the room was filled with ranchers and other landowners who credit wind and solar income for keeping their farms afloat, families from historically underfunded school districts that have benefited from property taxes paid by renewable energy projects, and veterans who’ve found new careers in utility scale renewable energy. More than 100 people registered to testify. Most opposed the measure. Many commented on dressing up in a suit for the occasion. Kolkhorst, a Republican from Brenham, amended her bill in response. Despite the tweaks, the measure still faces vocal opponents. “I listened that night, and we worked for four hours after we left this hearing,” Kolkhorst said before the committee voted to approve the measure. “It was obvious to me that west of I-35 everybody seems great with . It’s been a great economic development tool. East of I-35, it’s slightly different.” Bill changes Kolkhorst reduced the bill’s hotly-contested 3,000-foot setback requirement for wind farms to 1,000 feet. The setback requirement for solar farms is 200 feet. And rather than the Public Utility Commission having to approve every new renewable site — a requirement in the first draft — the bill now grants site interconnection to the grid “unless the PUC takes action and prohibits it,” Kolkhorst said. It still requires an application process for any renewable site providing more than 10 megawatts of power — a requirement that’s not applied to any other energy sources. “The PUC can only prohibit interconnection if harm caused by the construction and interconnection of the facility substantially outweighs the benefit provided to the state,” Kolkhorst said. Natural gas- and coal-fired plants face federal emissions standards that don’t apply to solar and wind farms, which don’t emit pollution into the air. But the oil and gas industry and gas- and coal-fired generating plants don’t face the same setback requirements, fees and scrutiny proposed under SB 819. Oil rigs, for example, are not mentioned in the bill. Current state law doesn’t regulate how close a well is to residences or other properties, but municipalities can pass their own setback ordinances. And there are no setback requirements for gas and coal generating plants. Kolkhorst has characterized the bill as common sense regulation that would protect “sensitive areas of Texas.” Many Texas landowners disagreed. “This bill is a huge step backwards for Texas, and will cut off an economic lifeline for rural Texas,” testified John Davis, who raises sheep, goats and cattle. “Not all rural counties in Texas are blessed with oil and gas, but some of us have struck wind.” After Kolkhorst’s edits, the bill passed the Business and Commerce committee last month on a 7-4 vote. After Tuesday’s passage by the full body, it heads to discussion in a House committee and must pass the full House before the governor can sign it into law. A similar version of the bill died in the House last session. Generation needed All eyes are on energy regulation in the Legislature, as statewide grid operator the Electric Reliability Council of Texas reports an unprecedented amount of demand growth by the end of the decade. Currently, peak demand is about 85.5 gigawatts but ERCOT’s latest forecasts show it growing a whopping a 75% by 2030. Meeting that demand requires rapid addition of generation and transmission sources. In a recent meeting with the San Antonio Express-News, ERCOT President and CEO Pablo Vegas confirmed reports that years-long supply chain delays are slowing industry’s ability to build new natural gas plants — putting an increasing focus on other types of generation including renewables. While the state needs to grow its gas generation for reliability, he said, that development will be handicapped by the supply chain issues over the next five years. In the same time frame, data centers flocking to Texas are responsible for the unprecedented demand forecasts. RELATED: Texas leads U.S. renewable energy generation by a country mile “We need all the generation we can get for the next several years and so I think policy should be trying to spur and incentivize gas generation while not disincentivizing other generation,” Vegas said. “It could create difficulties having a real slowdown in one part of our generation growth while we wait for another part.” Shortly after the bill passed, the country’s leading solar trade group — Solar Energy Industries Association — warned that if SB 819 becomes law, the new regulations could could put the state’s ability to the meet fast-rising energy demand at risk by making construction of new solar and wind projects more difficult and expensive. “We cannot afford to turn away from the pro-energy and pro-business policies that made the Lone Star State the energy capital, but that’s exactly what SB 819 does,” said Daniel Giese, the association’s Texas director of state affairs. “Solar is a $50 billion industry in Texas and is one of the fastest and most affordable sources of energy to build. We urge the Texas House to reject this bill.” It joins other measures that would slow development of renewables. Senate Bill 714, also recently passed the Committee on Business and Commerce, would require generators to show they could operate for 24 straight hours and solar farms to have 100% backup overnight. Both are largely unattainable by solar and wind power. Senate Bill 388, which has been sent to the House, would create a new credit program requiring half of all new generation added in the state to be powered by natural gas. Critics say that would slow renewables development because the supply chain issues is keeping gas generation from being developed. Supporters Though Kolkhorst made digs at Austin lobbyists, she has that kind of support herself. Two advisory board members with the new lobbying group Stewards of Texas Association testified in support of the legislation. The association was founded in 2024. A January press release from the group quoted Kolkhorst and a Stewards of Texas spokesperson who said the legislation “will ensure responsible siting of solar and wind projects to minimize environmental damage,” and suggested wind and solar projects harm wildlife. In testimony, plenty of other environmental groups fired back, saying climate change and fossil fuel pollution were more harmful to wildlife and migration patterns than wind and solar farms. At times the discussion turned into a back-and-forth over the greater threats. An Audubon Texas representative opposed to the bill said building collisions kill 1,000 times more birds per year than wind turbines. Stewards of Texas’ paperwork filed last year with the Secretary of State showed lobbyist David White was on the nonprofit’s corporate board of directors. White is also a lobbyist on behalf of the Friedkin Group. The group’s CEO, billionaire T. Dan Friedkin, also owns Gulf States Toyota — one of the carmaker’s largest distributors of parts and vehicles. He also has ties to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, another supporter of the bill. The Gulf States Toyota Inc. Political Action Committee has been a leading donor to Kolkhorst, according to campaign finance records. The PAC donated $20,000 to her in 2023 and $15,000 the next year. The PAC has been a regular donor to the senator since 2020. White’s firm, Public Blueprint, donated $5,000 to Kolkhorst in 2023. Rural Texans Other bill supporters included an elderly couple from Franklin County who shared frustrations over their 154 acres being hemmed in on three sides by solar panel development and said they fear the runoff they said the projects could cause. “Just because they do not emit something does not mean that they can’t cause impact to the land or to those around it, and they directly impact my third-generation land,” said Nancy White, who described herself as a landowner, farmer and forager in Van Zandt County. Texas law is known for landowner rights, a reality those who have sold or leased land to wind and solar farms testified was under threat by the bill. Even in its amended version, the bill would give the PUC power to stop proposed renewable sites far beyond the level of control it could exercise over other energy sources. “The last time I was here was 25 years ago,” said Brian Zbylot, a watermelon farmer who has land that became part of a sprawling solar farm. “I’m here because I don’t want people in Austin telling me … and other rural landowners what we can do with our land.” Zbylot said he was glad he lived in Texas, where the state historically hasn’t added such regulatory red tape. Nacogdoches County, his home, has seen the ups and downs of a changing economy. It has a past in dairy farming and a current economy fueled by pine trees and natural gas. Another rancher, whose family land ownership goes back to the late 1990s, credited solar for supporting their livestock farm — and the Texas grid — in southern Ellis County. Next steps “This bill will kill renewable energy in Texas, plain and simple,” Jeff Clark, CEO of the Advanced Power Alliance said during the committee hearing in March. “The Texas economic miracle runs on energy. It runs on natural gas, it runs on oil, it runs on electricity … We cannot pit energy resources against each other.” The committee hearing started at 8 a.m. but senators didn’t begin hearing testimony until late afternoon, after many who had signed up to speak had already left. Ultimately, 50 people testified against the bill and 13 for it.Environment Texas director Luke Metzger said he had been eyeing the legislation since it was filed in January. After it passed the Senate on Tuesday, he said that bill was using a guise of helping the land and wildlife to create a “discriminatory, capricious permitting standard that could grind renewable energy development to a halt.” His group supports clean air, energy and water policy to support wildlife. As the measure was approved by senators Tuesday afternoon, sunny skies were powering 40% of the statewide grid. The growth of solar power has helped buoyed the grid during summer afternoons, when temperatures and demand soars as Texans crank up their air conditioners. “By making it much more difficult to build wind and solar energy in Texas, this bill threatens to increase pollution, increase blackouts and increase our electric bills,” Metzger said in a statement.
Rural Texans Texas House Solar Energy Industries Association PUC Public Utility Commission Of Texas Electric Reliability Council Of Texas Senate District 18 Committee On Business And Commerce Political Action Committee Texas Association Environment Texas Business And Commerce San Antonio Express-News Audubon Texas Friedkin Group Advanced Power Alliance Gulf States Toyota Gulf States Toyota Inc. Texas Parks And Wildlife Foundation Public Blueprint Lois Kolkhorst T. Dan Friedkin S.B. 819 Brian Zbylot Nancy White John Davis David White Luke Metzger Pablo Vegas Bill Daniel Giese Republican Jeff Clark Texas Texans Austin Nacogdoches County I-35 Lone Star State Brenham Van Zandt County U.S. Ellis County Franklin County SB 819 Bill 819 Bill 714 Bill 388
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