For the first time ever, solar is set to generate more electricity than coal in the power market managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Nobody is building new coal power plants in the state, but developers are adding more solar there than anywhere else in the country. As a result of those diverging trajectories, the federal government expects ERCOT will receive 78 billion kilowatt-hours from solar in 2026, and just 60 from coal.
This trend does have seasonal variations. Last year, solar output beat coal on a monthly basis from March through August, and this year it is expected to do so from March through December, per the US Energy Information Administration at the Department of Energy.
Friends in Texas tell me there’s surprisingly much liberal thinking there now. A lot of the shut your mouth shit kickin’ image is a holdover from the recent past, since Republicans have appropriated patriotism and the whole Marlboro Man thing. Politicians like Ted Cruz and Allen West, who moved there from other states, are using that as marketing to the good-old-days audience. Texas is far from a traditionally Republican state - in the 20th century it voted blue in 16 out of 25 presidential elctions, and there’s a decent chance Texas could flip Democrat in the coming midterms.