As the saying goes, everything’s bigger in Texas. 

Among other things, this phrase applies to the state’s enthusiasm for renewable energy, as new data shows it has almost 80% more solar, wind, and battery capacity combined than the next-closest state, California. 

According to the latest statistics, tabulated at the end of 2024, the Lone Star State claims 42,000 megawatts of wind power, 22,000 MW of solar farms, and 6,500 MW of battery capacity. Since there was no battery storage in the entire state as recently as 2014, this is incredibly rapid growth and an exciting development. 

Wind and solar farms are still only generating about 30% of the state’s electricity, but the second-largest state in the union’s using this much clean energy and increasing its electric car business by almost 4,000% in the last decade is a positive sign for sustainability. 

The benefits of using renewable energy sources as opposed to traditional dirty fuel sources are myriad. They’re cheaper and healthier and even create more jobs. The fact that a famously conservative state such as Texas continues to double down on the energy transition despite the fact that many of its politicians are openly hostile to it is proof of clean energy’s inevitability and objectively superior benefits, both in the short and long term. 

The state’s moguls appear to be bracing for further pushback from the Trump administration, but the sound economics of sustainability should be enough to weather politically motivated interrogations. Plus, Texas’ green energy leaders were on Capitol Hill recently to “spread the good news,” as Daniel Giese, Texas director of state affairs for the Solar Energy Industries Association, put it. 

Per their data, at least 75% of Texas counties are receiving revenue from renewables production and battery storage, and these projects will pay billions of dollars in state taxes over their lifespans.

Texas still faces an uphill battle in fully altering its carbon footprint, though. Despite lapping the rest of the United States in clean energy volume, it remains a massive polluter, doubling the amount of carbon dioxide emissions of any other state, which puts it on par with large, industrialized nations. But the fact that Texas, California, and several other of the United States’ largest states are among the country’s biggest adopters of green energy technologies is a good sign for the country’s energy future.

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