
β‘ Wind power is big in Texas β expected to double during 2025
Together with solar power, wind power accounted for a record share of 29.8 percent of total electricity production in Texas during 2024. Texas is the largest wind power producer in the USA.
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- Wind power production in Texas is predicted to more than double from current levels starting from the end of February, creating conditions for increased renewable energy production.
- Together with solar power, wind power accounted for a record share of 29.8 percent of total electricity production in Texas during 2024.
- Texas is the largest wind power producer in the USA and generated approximately 115,000 gigawatt hours of wind power electricity between January and November 2024, corresponding to nearly 28 percent of all American wind power electricity during the same period.
Notable increase expected during spring
According to forecast models from LSEG, wind power production in Texas is expected to climb from the current daily average of approximately 7,500 megawatt hours to around 17,000 megawatt hours per day from the end of February. This increase comes at the right time as the current cold period gives way to warmer temperatures from March onward, leading to reduced demand for heating.
Wind production typically reaches its annual peak in Texas between March and May, when the end of winter brings higher and more sustained wind speeds at turbine level. About one-third of Texas' total annual wind production occurs during the months of March, April, and May.
Renewable energy advancing in the state
Wind farms are the second largest electricity source in Texas after natural gas. If Texas energy companies can secure over 30 percent of the system's energy needs from renewable assets, it could create room for reduced use of fossil fuels in the energy mix and help limit the total emissions from the USA's largest electricity system.
Electricity production from clean energy sources in Texas has increased by nearly 60 percent since 2019, compared to only a 2 percent increase in fossil fuel-based production during the same period, according to data from energy think tank Ember. Texas' total electricity production has risen by 17 percent since 2019, resulting in a cleaner energy mix that has increased total production by an average of 5 percent per year since 2021.
Reduced emissions despite increased production
As a result of the cleaner production mix, total emissions from the energy sector in Texas have decreased by 3 percent since 2019 and have remained largely unchanged over the past three years. This despite Texas' share of national power emissions from fossil fuels having risen to record high levels in recent years.
If Texas wind farms increase production as forecast this spring, the state's energy suppliers could potentially make greater cuts in the use of fossil fuels while still delivering higher total electricity supply to customers.
Texas is by far the largest wind power producer in the USA, with production more than twice as large as the next state on the list, Iowa. The expected increase in wind power during the coming months could help renewable energy sources reach over the 30 percent threshold for the first time in 2025, which would mark another step in the development toward a cleaner energy mix in the USA's most energy-demanding state.
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