Texas The Land of Energy

Texas The Land of Energy

STORY BY YOANN HISPA, CEO & CO-FOUNDER OF LANDGATE

For most people, it’s no surprise that Texas leads the nation in oil and gas production. According to LandGate’s data, Texas produced 1.8 billion barrels of oil in 2021, where the second state, NewMexico, produced a quarter of that. All of the other states combined have less oil and gas production than Texas alone.

Fewer people know that the Lone Star State is also the champion of renewable energy. Texas experienced the largest increase in solar and wind energy development in 2021 and 2022. It leads the nation in wind energy capacity and is second in solar energy capacity behind California. With a 47 GW total that includes active farms as well as those that are under construction and being planned, the state has the nation’s greatest renewable energy capacity.

The operative question is how will the shiftfrom fossil fuels to renewable energy impactthe energy dominance and land of Texas?

While Texas doesn’t have the largest number of solar farms active, built or planned in 2022, the solar farms in Texas are Texas-size, so the state experienced the largest increase in solar farm capacity in 2021 and 2022.

Figure 3. 2022 U.S. Wind Farms Capacity by State

Texas has an estimated 33 GW of wind energy capacity in 2022 (Figure 3). It has more wind capacity than the next three highest wind energy producing states, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

Texas is the king of energy, not only oil and gas but for renewable energy, too. Experts estimate it will take millions of acres of renewable energy development to replace fossil fuel energy. The shift from fossil fuels

to renewable energy has accelerated and is causing a large land grab in Texas by energy developers, private equities, and investors for wind and solar farms. The best way to make the most of these changes is to be informed—and LandGate’s third party data should be your trusted information source.

Figure 1 and Figure 2 show the increase of total solar farm capacity and production vs time for the top 10 solar energy states in the US. Since oil prices plummeted at the beginning of 2020, Texas has accelerated its renewable energy development and is quickly catching up to California for solar energy production.

Figure 1. Top 10 U.S. States Solar Farms Capacity vs Time

Figure 2. Top 10 U.S. States Solar Farms Production vs Time

Figure 4 shows the total acreage for solar farms in each state.

Figure 4. 2022 U.S. Solar FarmsEstimated Acreage by State

Figure 5 and 6 present the total solar capacity and production, respectively, including active, under construction and planned solar farms, broken down by state.

Figure 5. 2022 U.S. Solar FarmsEstimated Capacity by State

Figure 6. 2022 U.S. Solar FarmsEstimated Production by State

LandGate, a data intelligence and marketplacefor land and its resources, provided the datafor this article.

Landowners: LandGate provides free data for landowners to help determine the value of your land when it comes to solar farm potential, wind farm potential, minerals, carbon credits, or any other resource. Find your land values at LandGate.com

Land Real Estate Agents: Get access to the only data intelligence for land resources. Bring this unique knowledge to your clients. Access the $4 trillion a year of energy and environmental deals. LandGate’s marketplace gives access to the largest network of corporate buyers paying top-dollar for land and its resources. °