UCS Calls to Increase the Texas Renewable Energy Standard

UCS analysis shows that Texas can create jobs and improve its public health and environment by adopting a stronger renewable energy standard.

Increase the Texas Renewable Energy Standard:"In 1999, Texas enacted its RPS—requiring 2,000 megawatts (MW) of new renewable energy capacity by 2009—as part of legislation that restructured the state’s electricity market. Today, the Texas RPS is one of the most effective and successful in the nation. The state is ahead of its annual requirement schedule with nearly 1,200 MW of new renewable energy already installed.

Given the success of the existing law and the state’s vast renewable energy potential, at least two proposals have been made to increase the state’s standard. The Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association (TREIA) and a coalition of Texas environmental organizations are advocating for a long-term 20 percent by 2020 RPS, with one percent of the requirement set aside for distributed resources like solar energy and farm-based technologies.1 The Texas Energy Planning Council (TEPC) is recommending a more modest increase of the standard to 5,000 MW by 2015 (500 MW from non-wind renewable resources), with a goal of 10,000 MW by 2025. We project that the TEPC proposal would yield approximately 8 percent renewable energy in 2025. [...]"