Renewable Energy Bill Passes Senate « TexasVox: The Voice of Public Citizen in Texas

Renewable Energy Bill Passes Senate

May 13, 2009 by citizensarah

Yesterday afternoon the Texas Senate passed through SB 541, a bill authored by Senator Kirk Watson (D-Austin) to create a non-wind renewable portfolio standard. If passed through the House, SB 541 would put Texas on course to have 1500 MW of renewable energy from non-wind sources such as solar, geothermal, and biomass.

If you follow us on Twitter, of course this is old news to you. Public Citizen Texas has been using our Twitter feed to keep folks updated on breaking legislative news and votes, as well as to share interesting news articles and blog posts. Check it out:

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Thanks to Senator Watson’s SB 541, Texas could become a national leader in solar energy just as are in the wind industry. Along with Senator Fraser’s 545, which will provide $500 million in solar incentives over the next 5 years, SB 541 will ensure that incentives are provided for both the large, utility scale solar and small-scale distributed solar that Texas needs.

While we would have preferred a larger renewable portfolio standard, Public Citizen is delighted that this bill has passed the Texas Senate. This is a major step forward for Texans that will create tens of thousands of new clean green jobs within the state and lead to lower electric bills by hedging against the price of natural gas.

Hopefully the Texas House will see the light on solar power and pass an even stronger set of renewable energy goals that will make the grass grow greener, our air cleaner, and the green economy stronger.

Posted in Energy, Renewables | Tagged solar, renewable energy, Clean Energy, Twitter, distributed solar, sb 541, public citizen texas, texas senate, texas house, geothermal, renewable portfolio standard, biomass, senator watson, utility scale solar | 7 Comments

7 Responses

on May 14, 2009 at 10:36 am Posts about Solar Power as of May 14, 2009 | Atlas Solar Solutions

[...] dramatic growth in utility demand for large-scale wholesale solar projects, the increasing number Renewable Energy Bill Passes Senate – texasvox.org 05/13/2009 Yesterday afternoon the Texas Senate passed through SB 541, a bill [...]
on May 18, 2009 at 10:16 am Eye on Williamson » Texas Blog Round Up (May 18, 2009)

[...] at Texas Vox, one of the newest members of TPA, celebrates a victory for renewable energy as the Senate passes through a non-wind renewable portfolio standard. Translation from green geek speech: Lots more solar power for [...]
on May 18, 2009 at 8:31 pm Texas Progressive Alliance – May 18, 2009 « TruthHugger

[...] Texas Vox, one of the newest members of TPA, celebrates a victory for renewable energy as the Senate passes through a non-wind renewable portfolio standard. Translation from green geek speech: Lots more solar power for Texas! Possibly related posts: [...]
on May 18, 2009 at 8:36 pm Texas Progressive Alliance – May 18, 2009 | BlueBloggin

[...] Texas Vox, one of the newest members of TPA, celebrates a victory for renewable energy as the Senate passes through a non-wind renewable portfolio standard. Translation from green geek speech: Lots more solar power for [...]
on May 19, 2009 at 5:11 am Texas blog roundup for the week of May 18 « Off the Kuff

[...] at Texas Vox, one of the newest members of TPA, celebrates a victory for renewable energy as the Senate passes through a non-wind renewable portfolio standard. Translation from green geek speech: Lots more solar power for [...]
on May 21, 2009 at 4:40 pm House Calendars Committee Has Ultimate Power over Solar « TexasVox: The Voice of Public Citizen in Texas

[...] Looks like two of our key bills to promote solar power this session, SB 545 (Fraser/Strama) and SB 541 (Watson/Farabee) are getting stuck in the gummy gears of the legislative process. These bills [...]
on May 22, 2009 at 10:18 pm Texas Progressive Alliance Round-Up With Picture Of Snow « Texas Liberal

[...] at Texas Vox, one of the newest members of TPA, celebrates a victory for renewable energy as the Senate passes through a non-wind renewable portfolio standard. Translation from green geek speech: Lots more solar power for Texas! Possibly related posts: [...]