AUSTIN, Texas — Solar energy might be clean, cheap and slow the heating of the planet. But that’s not what the solar industry wants lawmakers to focus on.
Instead, solar leaders are at the Texas Capitol this week presenting their industry as a lucrative pathway toward American “energy dominance.”
On Wednesday, they pitched solar and battery storage to Texas legislators as a key source of jobs and rural renewal and — above all — the fastest possible way to get new electricity onto the state grid.
“We’re spreading the good news,” said Daniel Giese, Texas director for the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), as he walked between legislators’ offices.
The news: that 75 percent of Texas counties now receive revenue from renewables production and battery storage, per industry data — which meant spillover effects for schools, hospitals and roads in counties where there has, increasingly, been…
