Despite leading the nation in progressive policies for the transition to renewable energy, Washington ranks dead last in clean energy growth. Faced with a backlog of projects, lawmakers and energy developers are looking for new ways to move forward. Some say the answers might come from Texas.

Earlier this month, 45 people representing Washington businesses and government agencies went on a study mission to see how the Lone Star state is getting it done.

A Washington think tank, Clean & Prosperous, has organized climate policy study tours for the past six years, focusing on where they could build partnerships and learn about new technologies. The first five tours dealt with carbon markets, so they went to places like the European Union, California and Canada.

This year, they changed tack because of Washington’s clean energy backlog, according to Communications Director Kelsey Nyland.

“We went to the clean energy growth leader, and that’s Texas,”Nyland said.

This travel group was the most engaged and curious yet, she said, laughing.

“There were multiple briefings where we had to politely ask our folks to stop asking questions to let the briefer even get through the first, like, five slides of their deck.”

Over the past 20 years Washington has seen negative 3% growth in renewable energy, Nyland said.

At the same time, Texas has become a leader in solar power, battery storage and wind, surpassing even California. That is partly because Texas is a huge state with lots of hot sun and windy open spaces. But there are also policy differences that can’t be replicated; notably, Texas has an independent electrical grid operator that is not federally regulated.

But perhaps the biggest difference, Nyland said, is cultural.

“Texas has a very pro-development, pro-building kind of culture, and to be frank, I don’t think we have that in Washington state,” she said. “Often it feels like our processes are set up to identify where we can say ‘no.’ In Texas, it’s all about ‘how can we say ‘yes?’”

Fast-tracking clean energy   

One way Texas is saying “yes” to all of this is by developing energy in economically depressed areas where the projects funnel local property taxes back into the community. The tour highlighted sites where delegates could see that kind of policy in action.

It also included development sites that showcased not just wind and solar power, but also geothermal, hydrogen and nuclear energy.

Washington state Rep. Beth Doglio, a Democrat from Olympia who chairs the House Environment & Energy Committee, said the tour was “eye opening” because it showed how fast Texans are able to build.

“Soup to nuts for a particular project that we were looking at: 12 months” from when people started talking about it to when it was built, Doglio said.

“Twelve months later, it was saving taxpayer dollars and doing it with renewable energy,” she said. “That is not possible in the state of Washington at this time, and we need to figure out how to make it possible.”

A recent report by an environmental nonprofit and a research firm showed that 250 clean energy developments worth almost $150 billion are stuck in limbo in Washington.

Permitting reform in Washington

Doglio said her main takeaway is that Washington needs to simplify its permitting processes. She said too many clean energy projects here are stopped by people who don’t want them in their own backyards. Right now, that is the case with several battery storage projects that could make solar and wind energy developments viable.

As she looks forward to the next legislative session, Doglio said, “We have to stop dragging our heels” while still protecting the environment.

Daniel Himebaugh was part of the delegation that recently returned from a study mission to Texas. He is the government affairs program manager with Energy Northwest in Richland, which operates the nearby Columbia Generating Station — the only commercial nuclear power plant in the Pacific Northwest.

Speaking to KNKX after the trip, Himebaugh said there is a growing recognition that Washington’s policy system is failing to deliver on important goals.

“Permitting reform definitely was the topic of many conversations, and I think will continue to be on the top of people’s minds as they think about this trip over the next few months,” he said, especially heading into the next legislative session in January.