Spotlight On Texas As Trump Makes Solar Power Great Again

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Oh the irony, it burns. US President Donald Trump swept into office with a vendetta against electric vehicles along with wind and solar power, only to upend the political calculation by launching a war against Iran. EVs are more attractive now that the price of gasoline is rising again, while wartime pressure on the cost of natural gas firmly cements the case for wind and solar power more than ever before.

Solar Power In Texas: Money Talks, Rhetoric Walks

Despite Trump’s efforts to prop up fossil energy while throttling back on renewables, solar has emerged as the fastest and most economical way to get more kilowatts into the hands of an electricity-thirsty nation. The outlook for new power generation capacity additions in 2026, according to data compiled by the US Energy Information Agency, puts solar at 51% of the total, energy storage at 28%, and wind at 14%. Natural gas registers a measly 7%, and coal…well, pfffft!

Some state lawmakers have tried to put a damper on the solar momentum, too, but that wall is beginning to crumble as the financial case for solar-plus-storage begins to drown out the noise of partisan politics.

The perennially red state of Texas provides one such example. Despite the blistering rhetoric against renewable energy from Republican officials in the state, Texas emerged as a widely acknowledged, national leader in wind power during the early 2000s. More recently, solar power has taken up the torch. Texas now runs neck and neck with “woke” California for installed solar capacity, and the hits just keep on coming.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

The latest news from Texas illustrates just how irrelevant the anti-solar rhetoric has become. After all, money talks, and on March 5th, the Florida-based firm Origis Energy announced the close of $545 million in financing to support three new utility-scale solar projects in Ector County, Texas.

Participating in the raise was the global firm Santander Corporate & Investment Banking. In a press statement, the company’s US  Head of Energy Finance, Andrew Platt, emphasized the firm’s long term support for renewables. “This transaction reflects the strength of our ongoing relationship and our continued commitment to supporting renewable energy platforms,” Platt remarked.

As described by Origis, the three projects are already in the construction phase. All of them will be up and running sometime during this summer for a combined total of 413 megawatts.

That’s just for starters. “The financing represents the next phase of Origis Energy’s multi-project solar complex in West Texas, which will total over 700 MW upon completion,” the company notes. “The complex also includes the Swift Air Solar II and Swift Air Solar III projects, which reached financial close in 2025.”

More Solar Power For Texas

The solar developer Zelestra is another global renewable energy stakeholder with eyes on the US market, especially Texas. On March 5th, the company announced that its two biggest solar power plants in the US will be the 253-megawatt Echols Grove project in Lamar County, Texas and the 188-megawatt Cedar Range project in Hopkins County.

“Construction began at both sites in January 2026, with full commercial operation anticipated by the end of 2027,” Zelestra affirmed in a press statement.

“Together, the projects will support more than 400 local jobs and generate approximately $20 million in local spending,” the company adds, noting that the two new power plants are part of a seven-project, 1.2-gigawatt portfolio of power purchase agreements with Meta.

Here Come The Builders

In a particularly interesting development, the developer behind the Zelestra projects is McCarthy Building Companies, a Missouri-based, employee-owned firm billed as “the oldest privately held national construction company in America.”

Old as it is, McCarthy is one of the first major US construction industry stakeholders to establish a renewable energy group under its wing in the early 2000s. “As one of America’s top renewable builders for more than a decade, we stay focused on delivering the highest value solar facilities in the industry in support of our country’s ongoing clean energy transition,” McCarthy says of itself.

They are not kidding around. In 2025, Engineering News-Record ranked McCarthy as the 15th-largest builder in the US. ENR has also tapped McCarthy’s solar projects for numerous awards in recent years, one example involving the use of frameless solar panels at the Serrano solar and storage project in Arizona.

Support for solar power from the nation’s construction industry is a significant development because builders have the workforce, experience, and financial resources to connect all the dots in a project. “McCarthy is an industry leader in helping you navigate the regulatory, financial, and supply considerations to benefit trade workers, suppliers, and your bottom line,” MCarthy explains.

Beyond standalone solar arrays, that includes building projects that integrate renewable energy and energy from the bottom up. McCarthy lists its in-house design, construction, and performance experts among other resources in support of that goal.

As of its latest website update, McCarthy counted more than 114 renewable energy projects under its belt including 17+ gigawatts of utility-scale solar and 9 gigawatt-hours of battery energy storage.

More Clean Power For The USA

For a fresh burst of solar activity in the domestic construction industry, keep an eye on another leading stakeholder, the Chicago-based firm Clayco. The company launched in 1984 and it has just revved up a new “Power and Energy” branch to support its solar and energy storage business, leveraging its soup-to-nuts design-build resources.

Yet another up-and-comping source of pushback against Trump’s fossil-friendly energy policy involves the portable, hang-able, plug-in “balcony” solar panels popular in some parts of Europe. Balcony solar has a robust profile in Germany, which is the first country to popularize the idea. Interest here in the US began to tick up last year, and lawmakers in some states have been working to remove regulatory hurdles.

CleanTechnica has been covering the plug-in solar movement for years, and Trump’s war in Iran is all but certain to stimulate demand now that general news organizations have begun to take notice. Earlier today, for example, CNN posted a story (subscribers only) describing how rising electricity rates began to inspire a “stealth” balcony solar movement even before Trump launched his attack on Iran last week.

Stealth may not be needed much longer, at least not in some parts of the US. As reported by the World Resources Institute last week, enabling legislation for balcony solar is active in at least 24 states.

Photo: The Florida-based firm Origis Energy is among the industry stakeholders enabling solar power to continue dominating new utility-scale electricity generating capacity in the US, regardless of the abrupt U-turn in federal energy policy (cropped, courtesy of Origis).