Joshua D. Rhodes

The large load queue in ERCOT continues to be... large...

www.ercot.com/files/docs/2...

In the desert?

“My family has a lot of heritage in this land, but my kids don’t want to ranch, so other ways of earning income from the land are important to keeping it in the family.”– George Riggs, Former Pecos County Commissioner

“The truth is that the sheep that graze on the grass that grows under the solar panels are more agriculturally productive than the dryland cotton I used to run on it!” - Allen Gully (farms over 3,000 acres on the edge of San Angelo)

“[Because of the better roads that the wind farm put in place, I can] make it clear across the ranch in just a few minutes along the same path that used to take me twenty.” - Former Republican Texas State Representative John E. Davis

“It’s great to see these types of projects coming to our region...For smaller, rural schools, the added revenue can make a significant difference – especially for funding enrichment and construction projects.”- Michael Davis, Former Superintendent for Cushing ISD

“Wind energy sales produce a passive income that does not materially interfere with the AG operations or other uses of the property. In times of drought, electric power sales continue to create rainfall-independent financial stability... – Michael Manning, Bar T-Black Angus Ranch

“The cows love wind turbines, they walk around them all day and follow the shadows that they cast. We now have good roads on our land that make it easier to take care of our cattle. I wish we had more of them on our land…”– Louis Brooks Jr., Louis Brooks Ranch, LTD.

“Wind has been a Godsend – it allows flexibility in budgeting by providing a constant source of revenues that you know will be there when you need them.” — Don Allred, Former Oldham County Judge.

What do real landowners and local officials think about wind and solar projects? We asked them in our last report that focused on Texas:

txrenewables.net

See below for what they said.

Texas Shows How Trump’s Anti-Green Moves Threaten a Red Economy The state faces an energy crunch, but Trump’s budget bill will hurt renewable power — Texas’ fastest growing electricity source.

“We’re in an energy crunch,” said Joshua Rhodes, an electricity expert and research scientist at the University of Texas at Austin. “We should be doubling down on everything we can build right now. Making things more expensive is antithetical to that.”

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

US aluminum producers need cheap, clean power. That may be tough to… Century Aluminum and Emirates Global Aluminium want to build the nation’s first smelters in decades, but must compete with data centers for a limited…

It's AI vs. Al for cheap power

“Ultimately, this is about energy,” said Matt Meenan, VP of external affairs for the Aluminum Association.

“I think we’re going to have a hard time becoming fully self-sufficient for primary Al in the U.S.”

www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...

It is Texas! #knowthyaudience

Why Texas’s ‘cut-throat’ approach to net zero is paying off Trump’s anti-green agenda has put him on an unlikely collision course with supporters in the state

On why the cheapest form of energy does well in Texas:

“[Texas] set up its markets to be cut-throat,” says Joshua Rhodes, a research scientist at [UT Austin]

By contrast, in many other parts of the US, there is no competition at all, says Rhodes.

www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/80aac07...

Oh hey, IdeaSmiths CTO @joshdr83.bsky.social did this analysis!

The short version: voting to attack wind and solar is a vote to raise electricity prices and escalate chances of outages and shortfalls.

Engineer mountain was just calling out to me!

Renewable energy survived Texas attacks. Its future now depends on Trump. Texas bills targeting solar and wind power are dead, so the state’s flourishing renewable energy industry remains alive and well — for now.

It’s official: Texas bills targeting solar and wind power are dead.

Here's a recap of the arguments that worked, as the renewable energy industry tries the same appeals to lobby against Trump's "big, beautiful bill." www.houstonchronicle.com/business/ene...

Investing in US technology and US supply chains delivers benefits that reach far and wide.

"I'm a husband, father, and softball coach, and welding puts food on the table, smoked ribs on the grill." – Lee Evans, Welder, Grenzebach, Newnan, GA.

Learn more: bit.ly/43vszfW

#AmericasSolarCompany

Happy Texas Sine Die to those who celebrate!

You know what comes after A for Abundance? B for Billions of dollars of local taxes and landowner payments $50B to be approximate.

static1.squarespace.com/static/652f1...

Oh man, that would be awesome

It’s suburban Rs vs. urban Ds + rural Rs. Most of the bad stuff didn’t actually make it though, just made a bunch of splashy headlines.

Need to read book, did they talk to a Texan? @costasamaras.com

Connect and manage + b/c of no state income tax that gets redistributed, most local coffers are filled by higher property taxes. This means tax revenues from renewables stay local, which can help with local support.

Thanks!

Joshua in print, Josh over beers ;)

With respect to the alternative of no renewables, we find that there would be ~577 million more tons of CO2 (through 2022).

static1.squarespace.com/static/652f1...

How will the ERCOT grid hold up during this week's Texas heat wave? Electricity demand is expected to set an all-time May record this week, according to forecasts from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

“The same sun that heats up buildings, that drives air conditioning, that drives peak (electricity) demand in Texas, is the same sun that's producing electricity for solar panels,” said Joshua Rhodes

www.houstonchronicle.com/business/ene...

Federal Energy Star label program, which helped curb electricity demand, said to be on chopping block The Trump administration reportedly plans to cut the program, just as electricity demand is rising in the United States due to the rise in data centers and AI.

“The electricity grid is looking to grow with new loads, like AI and data centers…” “Building new [infrastructure] takes time and money. ->, “it would be good to continue to be efficient in places where we can, [Rhodes] said.

www.marketplace.org/story/2025/0...

Sometimes it feels like it's just us, but it's not.
While Virginia is holding on to the title of data center capital of the world, this industry has the ability and incentive to go where the power is, not just where the initial infrastructure was laid.

Texas GOP moves closer to killing the state's renewable energy boom The bills would require nearly every solar and wind farm in the state to back up their electricity output with natural gas power plants or a fleet of batteries.

“It's like expecting a trumpet to play a drum line — it's just not going to work. It's not the right tool. But if you put all the tools together, then you can get an orchestra,” Rhodes said.

via @clairehao.bsky.social @houstonchronicle.com

www.houstonchronicle.com/business/ene...