Renewable energy producers can breathe a sigh of relief after a Texas legislative session that saw many proposals to restrict or regulate solar and wind energy fail.

Bills that would have banned offshore wind-powered generators, created prohibitive land use requirements for wind- and solar-power generators and assigned new costs to existing and future wind and solar farms died after not meeting a critical legislative deadline.

And at least one bill united the oil and gas industry with renewable energy producers after it became clear it would likely have increased all energy production costs.

The bills failed as lawmakers grappled with the realization that construction of natural gas-fueled power plants would not be able to keep up with demand projections that have shown the state’s electricity demand nearly tripling in coming years.

“Despite a wave of anti-renewable proposals this session, a majority of lawmakers wisely rejected the most extreme measures — recognizing that Texas can’t afford to forfeit any source of affordable, predictable power when every megawatt is needed to meet growing demand,” said Judd Messer, Texas Vice President of Advanced Power Alliance, a renewable energy advocacy group.

As in previous sessions, the House was where the most anti-renewable legislation perished. There, lawmakers slowed proposals renewable advocates said would, at best, slow the growth of green energy in Texas and, at worst, lead to many existing solar and wind farms shutting down.

The three most notable proposals were Senate Bills 388, 715 and 819. Each passed through the Senate with little resistance.

Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, said he was thankful anti-renewable bills did not advance in the House. Turner sits on the House committee that reviews that vast majority of energy-related bills.

“There’s a recognition on a bipartisan basis that we need every electron, we need every source of energy in Texas on our grid,” Turner said. “It makes no sense, policy wise, to discriminate against different forms of generation, particularly renewables that are beneficial to the environment.”

Bryn Baker, senior director of policy innovation at the Texas Energy Buyers Alliance, said part of the reason lawmakers chose not to advance those bills was because natural gas power plants, which Texas Republican lawmakers have coveted, would not be able to meet growing demand on their own. Those plants generate electricity with large turbines that have become scarce in the past 12 months.

The world’s largest supplier, GE Vernova, reported in a recent earnings call that its backlog of orders for gas turbines grew significantly last year. Its CEO said the company had nearly filled up all orders that could be delivered by 2028.

Siemens, a Germany-based turbine provider, also is seeing a record order backlog.

“If you haven’t ordered your turbine already, the back-order list is at least five years long, and turbine producers aren’t planning to dramatically ramp production,” Baker said in an interview. “So you can’t solve the power equation with just gas. Diversity is key.”

Bipartisan power grid bills did make it to the finish line. They include a multi-faceted proposal from Sen. Phil King, R-Granbury, that will make ERCOT’s demand projections more accurate and create a program that will give the power grid operator authority to shut off electricity to some large-scale users in a power supply emergency.

The bill “maintains a pro-business environment that is very attractive to data centers and other businesses,” King said in a statement. “We want these companies to come to Texas, and our competitive electric market is a major selling point.”

For renewables, the question of new regulations or obstacles in Texas remains settled until the Legislature reconvenes for its next session in 2027. But many questions remain unanswered about how the ongoing discussions in Washington regarding the budget reconciliation process could undo solar and wind subsidies.