Texas Is Absolutely Rolling In New Solar Power Plants

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“Ash Creek Solar represents a powerful example of how the State of Texas continues to lead in solar development,” is the takeaway nugget from the US solar firm Primergy Solar, which has just added 408 megawatts’ worth of solar power to the Texas electricity grid, and — wait, isn’t the US solar industry supposed to die, already? What’s going on in Texas?

Solar Power Plants Continue To Rise In Texas

No doubt about it, US President Donald Trump and his office-holding allies have bent over backwards to shrink the mighty US solar industry down to the size of a kitten. That’s particularly evident in Texas, where the state legislature has turned sour on solar as well.

It didn’t use to be that way. For a number of reasons, Texas — an epicenter of US fossil energy activity — has also become a centerpiece for the domestic solar industry (here and here are two more examples).

Despite the current downwards spiral in energy policy, utility-scale solar power projects continue to stream into Texas, at least for the time being. The flood could soon turn into a trickle, but that’s up to the voters. If solar development slows down, perhaps ratepayers in Texas will begin to wonder why their utility is suddenly investing in more expensive power generation assets when the cleaner, less expensive alternative of solar power is sitting right there at their fingertips.

Whether or not ratepayers will stop wondering and start rising up to use the power of their votes to demand more solar power from their elected officials is another question for another day. However, even if ratepayers are asleep at the wheel, leading corporate energy consumers are not, and the Ash Creek project is a case in point.

Microsoft Backs New Solar Power Plant

Th 408-megawatt (AC) Ash Creek solar power plant is located in Hill County in Texas, between the energy-sucking populations centers Austin and Dallas. The project took several years to reach the start of construction, but once that happened it was off to the races.

The clock started in 2016, when the firms Orion Renewable Energy Group LLC and Eolian initially developed plans for Ash Creek. In 2021 Primergy acquired the project and picked up the pace. One key milestone was an assist from Microsoft, which engaged in a long term power purchase agreement accounting for the entire 408 megawatts. PPAs provide solar developers with guaranteed off-takers, helping to attract investors to a project before construction begins.

A Billion-Dollar Solar Power Plant For Texas

With the Microsoft PPA in hand, in March of 2024 Primergy nailed down $588 million in financing.  The transaction was supported by a laundry list of global financial firms including  the Japanese firms MUFG Bank (part of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group) and SMBC (Sumimoto Banking Corporation), along with BNP Paribas, Commerzbank AG, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, ING Capital, KeyBanc Capital Markets, Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale, New York Branch, and Rabobank.

If the US solar market dries up as intended, these global investors can simply pack up and take their economic development dollars elsewhere. As of last year, though, the US energy transition was still charging full steam ahead. “We are thrilled to continue our relationship with Primergy and support its growing solar and storage portfolio,” enthused MUFG Managing Director, Project Finance Americas Louise Pesce in a press statement supporting the Ash Creek project, dated March 12 of 2024.

“We are committed to creating a sustainable future by financing solar projects that have a positive community impact, like Ash Creek Solar,” Pesce emphasized.

The $588 million deal was not the end of the money trail. Last fall Primergy also secured another $350 million in tax equity financing, supported by a to-be-named Fortune 500 telecom firm along with Truist Bank, bringing the total to almost $1 billion.

More Solar Power Plants, More Community Benefits

By March of 2024 construction was under way on the Ash Creek project, with the firm SOLV Energy on board as the engineering, procurement, and construction partner. Now here we are midway through 2025 and the clean kilowatts are already flowing into the Texas grid.

“Projects like Ash Creek Solar provide thoughtful energy solutions to meet the needs of consumers, drive long-term value, and strengthen America’s energy independence,” Primergy CEO Ty Daul noted in a press statement on July 17.

“We are proud to work alongside Microsoft, our local stakeholders, and the broader Hill County community to ensure this project delivers reliable and affordable energy to the grid, along with economic growth for the community for years to come,” Daul emphasized, referring to the estimated $100 million in tax payments the Ash Creek project will pump into Hill County.

Lease payments to land owners will also contribute to the local economy. In addition, Primergy and SOLV Energy partnered with the nonprofit education organization Heart of America on improvement projects in the Abbott and Penelope Independent School Districts.

Texas Will Keep Rolling In Solar, For Now

The start of commercial operations for the Ash Creek project follows on the heels of a rapid-fire series of new utility scale solar power plant announcements in  theTexas pipeline. In an interesting twist, that includes the Texas utility El Paso Electric’s forthcoming 150-megawatt solar project in neighboring New Mexico. The Texas grid is almost entirely separated from its neighbors, except for a handful of border connections including the El Paso Electric system.

Other than that, the island effect of Texas’s walled-off grid has motivated ERCOT, the Texas grid operator, to support any and all available in-state energy resources, including solar power, with corporate buyers like Microsoft front and center.

Of course, a firm public policy in support of solar power would help. With that out of the picture, Microsoft is reportedly open to giving natural gas an opportunity to power its new data centers. Meta has already gone there, one example being a natural gas plan for its proposed new data center in Louisiana.

For the record, Louisiana has been notoriously late to the solar party. Despite ample sunshine, the state ranks a lowly 31 in installed solar capacity on a 50-state list. In contrast, Texas ranks among the top states right alongside California and Florida.

What Is This EAPA Of Which You Speak?

In another interesting development regarding the solar industry in Texas, Meta has apparently figured out that it can offset (or greenwash, as the case may be) its new gas power plants in Louisiana by supporting more solar power plants in Texas.

Earlier this year Meta signed EAPAs (Environmental Attributes Purchase Agreements) for four solar projects under the wing of the global renewable energy developer Zelestra. On June 25, the firm Adapture Renewables also announced that it reached two EAPAs with Meta, covering two forthcoming solar projects in Texas for a total of 360 megawatts.

“These agreements support Meta’s sustainability goals and reinforce the ongoing collaboration between the two companies to advance clean energy deployment at scale,” Adapture explained.

EAPAs are new to the pages of CleanTechnica. If anyone out there knows exactly how they work, drop a note in the comment thread. As far as I can tell, EAPA refers to the financial transaction that supports RECs (Renewable Energy Credits), so basically it’s another way of saying REC without saying REC.

All that aside, it’s worth noting that Adapture anticipates shunting all 360 megawatts of EAPA-supported solar power into the Texas grid 2027, which is just around the corner. Try that with your new gas power plant…

Image (cropped): Solar power is still alive and kicking in Texas, where a new billion-dollar, 408-megawatt solar project has just begun commercial operation (courtesy of Primergy).