Institutional Investors Call on Texas Leaders to Ensure a Level Playing Field for All Energy Resources, Scrap Anti-Renewable Proposals

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a letter sent today to the Governor of Texas Greg Abbott, Chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas Peter Lake, and other Texas legislative and regulatory leaders, the U.S. Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance (PREF) urged policymakers to focus on proposals that truly enhance electric reliability and avoid anti-renewable proposals that would significantly undermine business investment in Texas.

The U.S. Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance is an affiliation of leading companies that have invested tens of billions of dollars in energy infrastructure in Texas and are part of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE).

“Renewable energy development is currently providing more than $270 million in state, local and property tax revenues this year, along with lease payments to farmers, ranchers and other landowners totaling over $140 million,” wrote ACORE President and CEO Gregory Wetstone. “These revenue streams, which help fund school districts and local governments across the state, are being placed at risk by policy proposals now under consideration.”

“For example, assigning ancillary service costs exclusively or disproportionately to renewable generators would significantly undermine business investment in Texas. Renewable energy provides affordable electricity that saves consumers money and has proven less susceptible to climate-induced weather extremes than thermal generation, such as natural gas, coal or nuclear power. […] Rather than improving grid reliability, retroactively changing renewable project economics risks driving existing generation offline, exacerbating the very problem that needs to be solved,” Wetstone continued.

The renewable energy sector employs tens of thousands of Texans and has generated more than $70 billion in new investment capital across the Lone Star State.

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About ACORE:
For more than 20 years, the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) has been the nation’s premier pan-renewable nonprofit organization. ACORE unites finance, policy and technology to accelerate the transition to a renewable energy economy. For more information, please visit www.acore.org.

Media Contacts:

Blake McCarren, Communications Manager, ACORE
mccarren@acore.org

Alex Hobson, Vice President of Communications, ACORE
hobson@acore.org | 202.777.7584 (o) | 202.594.0706 (c)