Texas Solar Generation Increased by 35 Percent in 2023: EIA

Additional solar capacity across Texas altered the daily electricity generation mix during 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Energy sources used to produce electricity have significantly changed in 2023, with solar accounting for a larger share of the generation mix.  As it stands, wind generation remains the major source of renewable electricity generation in Texas, despite the slowdown of new wind turbine capacity installations. On the other hand, additional capacity of solar generation assets, often co-located with storage assets, grew significantly in 2023. Wind generation in 2023 remained essentially unchanged from the previous year, whereas solar generation rose by 35 percent year over year.

Due to the increase in solar capacity on the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) electricity grid, the agency projects a reduction in natural gas usage during the middle of the day, as solar generation is expected to displace the energy source. However, the agency expects natural gas to be a vital fuel in the electricity generation mix in the evening when demand is elevated and solar production declines with the sun going down.

Natural gas fired power generation in Texas usually plays a pivotal role in balancing changes in electricity demand and is often highest in the evening from 6:00-8:00 pm. Solar generation is highest around midday, and declines in the afternoon and as a result gets displaced by natural gas in the generation mix to meet electricity demand.

Hourly average solar production during winter 2022-23 was 1.9 gigawatt hours (GWh) and rose to 3.3 GWh in winter 2023-24. On the other hand, wind generation declined from 13.8 GWh to 13.2 GWh over the same period. With regard to summer, hourly average solar production rose from 3.6 GWh in summer 2022 to 5.1 GWh in summer 2023, whereas wind generation remained unchanged at 11.2 GWh. Last year, Texas produced 32,000 GWh from utility scale solar generators, a 35 percent increase year-on-year. Wind generation remained essentially unchanged from 2022-2023 at about 108,000 GWh.

In 2023, installed solar capacity in Texas totaled around 16 gigawatts (GW)and power plant developers expected to add around 24 GW of additional solar power capacity to the grid in 2024 and 2025.