Texas has been a big player in the development of its wind resources since the late 1990s. Though it's known for its big wind, the state also has abundant solar resources for photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar power installations.
To help Texans adopt renewables, the state offers numerous incentives, like property tax rebates and performance-based incentives. While other states have adopted legislation requiring utilities to offer net metering to their residents, utilities in Texas have the option to offer net metering, but are not mandated to offer it. Currently three city utilities do including Austin.
When it comes to rebates, however, power suppliers in Texas offer significant rebates to property owners in their service districts, sometimes better rebates than found in other states. And there’s a smorgasbord of utilities in Texas that are offering incentives to their customers.
Texas has increased its interest in promoting renewables in the last couple of years that has prompted many solar installers to expand into the state. As of 2018, it has a renewable portfolio standard, which requires 10,000 megawatts of renewables installed throughout the state by 2025. According to the annual compliance report prepared by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) Texas surpassed its 2025 target in 2009 and had 13,359 MW of additional renewable energy capacity (12,824 MW of which was wind) in 2013 relative to 1999.