While California has been the country's renewable-energy leader for years, Gov. Greg Abbott said that there are plans for Texas to make a move to the top, but some experts believe this could be economically disastrous.
Texas is planning to increase its solar energy production by 50% more than California throughout the next three years, the Austin Journal reported. Of these solar projects, however, only 28% will include attached batteries, whereas 99% of California's projects include batteries.
"Clean and renewable energy are a valuable part of America's future and are closely tied with Texas' prosperity and success," Abbott, a longtime proponent of renewable energy, said in a Clean Energy Week proclamation in September 2020.
The increased renewable-energy reliance comes with a cost, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data. The average price of electricity for residential customers in Texas in January 2022 was 12.24 cents per kilowatt-hour. That same month in California, the cost was 23.58 cents per kilowatt-hour. This was comparable with industrial customers as well. Data showed that Texas customers paid 5.72 cents per kilowatt-hour in January 2022, and California industrial customers paid 13.38 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Electricity prices from 2011-20 increased an average of seven times more in California compared with the rest of the U.S., Environmental Progress reported. The organization said that prices will continue to rise if California keeps funding renewable energy.
The unreliability of solar and wind energy was one of three primary causes of blackouts in California in 2020 as well, the California Independent System Operator reported.
In an editorial published by the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity in 2020, Robert Bryce said that California's energy prices are leading to poverty. At that time, he said nearly 20% of residents were living in poverty.
"A growing element of this problem is the cost of electricity," Bryce said. "Rising electricity prices disproportionately impact lower- and middle-income families who lack the disposable income to absorb the extra costs."
California has decided to shut down the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant despite energy prices on the rise, energy expert and entrepreneur Brian Gitt wrote for RealClearEnergy. Almost 10% of the state's energy comes from this plant.