Correcting the Record: Renewable Energy Lowers Costs for Texans

Austin, TX – On Monday, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright spoke to a crowd of oil and gas executives at CERAWeek in Houston, the country’s largest annual gathering of energy officials. As reported in The New York Times, Mr. Wright’s comments touted the necessity of U.S. oil and gas production and dismissed renewable sources altogether, claiming scaling up renewable energy production is not viable and prohibitively expensive. 

In reality, renewable sources are an essential part of energy generation in the U.S. and particularly in Texas, and recent research indicates that renewable energy lowers costs, while a turn away from renewables would raise costs for Texans. Here are the facts: 

• The article reports “Mr. Wright warned against a shift to renewable energy that he said was likely to prove costly. ‘Everywhere wind and solar penetration have increased significantly, prices went up,’ he said.”
  • However, the article continues “That is not always true. Texas has seen its electricity prices decline slightly over the past decade as wind and solar have grown rapidly and now supply more than one-quarter of the state’s power.” 
  • Solar and wind energy reduced wholesale energy costs in Texas by $7.4 billion in the first eight months of 2022
  • In 2023, more than 316,000 Texas families benefitted from more than $1 billion in tax credits to lower the costs of clean energy and energy efficiency upgrades to their homes
  • Thanks to tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act, the costs of solar and wind power in Texas were projected to drop by 23 and 32 percent, respectively, over the next 30 years
• Moving away from renewable energy increases costs for Texans
  • In January 2025, Aurora Energy Research released a report thatfound that the repeal of clean energy tax credits would increase average residential electricity bills in Texas by 11 percent by 2030, and 22 percent by 2040
  • In February 2025, the Clean Energy Buyers Association released a report that found that repealing clean energy tax credits would lead to average residential electricity prices in Texas increasing by 2.2 percent by 2026
  • The Trump administration’s tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada may also increase renewable power costs for Texans, with global supply chains for wind turbines, solar panels, and batteries expected to be impacted.

Read the full story here: U.S. Energy Secretary Pledges to Reverse Focus on Climate Change[Brad Plumer, NYT, March 10, 2025]

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