In a letter sent  to the Governor of Texas Greg Abbott, the Lieutenant Governor of Texas Dan Patrick, and the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives Dade Phelan, the U.S. Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance (PREF), 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), expressed serious concerns with proposals currently under consideration by the Texas Legislature that would "inappropriately and unfairly" impose new and significant costs on renewable energy projects. The group urged opposition to provisions in Senate Bill 3 changing the ancillary services market, and to similar provisions in Senate Bill 1278 and House Bill 4466. 

"Our companies have invested tens of billions of dollars in the state partly because of our confidence in Texas' historically friendly business environment," wrote ACORE President and CEO Gregory Wetstone. "This trust would be undermined by proposed legislation like Senate Bill 1278, House Bill 4466, and the amendment found in Senate Bill 3 that retroactively rewrites market rules that were relied upon by investors and imposes onerous new cost burdens. Such changes would undercut previous investment decisions and erode confidence that the state will continue to provide the financial stability necessary for future energy investment." 

"It is important to note that these changes neither enhance electric reliability nor lower consumer costs. They appear to be premised on the assumption that renewable energy was disproportionately responsible for the state's February power outages, a thesis that has been unequivocally discredited," Wetstone continued. 

The Editorial Board of the Houston Chronicle recently described these proposals as "a cheap shot at renewable energy," in the wake of statewide power outages that impacted millions of homes and businesses earlier this year. 

The renewable energy sector employs nearly 40,000 Texans and has generated more than $60 billion in new investment capital across the Lone Star State. 

ACORE | www.acore.org