A Deluge Of Solar Power Crushes A Small Victory For Coal

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The conservative Texas State Attorney General and candidate for US Senate Ken Paxton broke out the pom-poms when he scored a victory for coal power last month. Dream on, Klingon. That was last month. Now it’s this month, and US President Donald Trump’s war in Iran has only cemented the status of renewable energy in the US power generation profile. That includes Paxton’s home state, where coal power has been slogging down a long, steep slide into the dustbin of history that predates the era of low-cost solar power

Dumb Bunny Scores Dumb “Victory” Over ESG

Paxton has been pursuing a lawsuit against Vanguard, and the leading US firms BlackRock (these guys) and State Street, in a federal court in Texas since November of 2024. Joined by 10 other conservative state attorneys general, the lawsuit alleges that the ESG (environment, social, governance) investing practices of the three firms amount to illegal collusion at the expense of coal power.

Never mind that ESG is a set of mainstream business practices that support, among other fiscally sound measures, wind and solar as the most accessible, economical, and climate de-risking domestic energy resources available in the US today. Texas has both wind and solar power in abundance. Heck, even the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts is a fan.

Still, last month Vanguard threw in the towel and agreed to a settlement of $29.5 million, in which the firm admitted no wrongdoing. In an announcement describing its position on February 26, Vanguard also reaffirmed its commitment to mainstream investing principles, namely ESG, without actually referring to ESG by name.

Regardless, Paxton cranked up the anti-ESG publicity machine. “This landmark settlement represents one of the most significant enforcement actions ever taken against coordinated ESG-driven market manipulation,” his office announced on February 26.

Another Epic Case Of Bad Timing

If you caught that thing about February 26, yes, that was two days before US President Donald Trump launched his war against Iran and sent the price of oil and gas through the roof.

Coal prices have also spiked globally. The war may or may not have a direct impact on the cost of coal for power generation in the US, but the US Energy Information Administration points out that diesel and other transportation fuels play an outsized role in the economic viability of coal power plants.

That trend took shape long before wind and solar power began to dominate new capacity additions in the US. In 2012, EIA noted that the average cost of transporting coal to power plants rose by almost 50% between 2001 and 2011, seesaw-ing between an 83% rise along some routes while others remained relatively stable or saw a drop. In 2022, EIA estimated that transportation fuels accounted for about 41% of the cost of coal delivered to power plants. More recently, EIA reminded everyone that the cost of coal transportation depends on the region and the transportation mode (rail, waterway, or truck), with some experiencing a sharp rise while others fell in 2023.

“Coal power has one of the highest costs of any energy source, and these costs have only increased. In 2024, the cost to generate coal power was about 28% higher than it was just three years earlier,” the League of Conservation Voters also reminds everyone.

Nothing Can Stop Solar Power Now

Trump’s serial efforts to prop up outdated coal power plants have already resulted in millions of extra costs. Some utilities have begun joining public officials and consumer groups to fight back in court, but meanwhile ratepayers are on the hook.

Against this backdrop, the trade organization Solar Energy Industries Association has just issued a new report summarizing the contributions to the US grid. “The U.S. solar industry installed 43 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity in 2025, remaining the dominant source of new capacity added to the grid for the fifth consecutive year,” SEIA leads off.

“Solar and energy storage represent 79% of new capacity installed in the first year of the Trump Administration,” the organization emphasizes.

“Utility-scale solar is one the most cost-effective forms of new energy generation, and home solar and battery storage remains one of the few ways Americans can take control of their energy bills,” they add again for good measure.

Everything Is Bigger In Texas, Including The Solar Industry

The new report makes particular hay out of the leading role played by Trump-voting states in the fresh burst of solar activity. Instead of heeding Trump’s clarion call for coal, Trump-voting states can take credit for more than ⅔ of the new solar capacity installed in 2025. The cohort includes Indiana, Florida, Arizona, Ohio, Utah, and Arkansas as well as Texas, all of which earned a slot in the top 10 states for new solar capacity additions last year.

“Texas continued its dominance as the fastest-growing solar market, leading all states with 11 GW of new installations,” SEIA emphasized while also taking note of a substantial uptick in solar deployment among other states, including Indiana and Utah.

As for ESG investing, Vanguard is not the only firm charging down ESG’s renewable energy track without referring to ESG. Take the Austin-based investment firm Greenbelt Capital Partners. The company focuses on investments in “leading companies that are enabling the transition to a more resilient and electrified energy future,” which pretty much cuts out coal.

In the latest news from Greenbelt, earlier today the company announced that it has nailed down the sale of the low-carbon energy firm Intersect Power to Google for $4.75 billion, describing the sale as a “landmark transaction in the evolution of one of the nation’s leading clean energy platforms.”

The closing included the birth of a new energy company carved out of Intersect, called IPX Power. The new venture, backed by Greenbelt Capital Partners, TPG Rise Climate, and Climate Adaptive Infrastructure, is tasked with focusing on solar power and energy storage projects in California and — you guessed it — Texas.

The combined portfolio already totals about 4.4 gigawatts of solar and 8.8 gigawatt-hours of battery storage under construction or in operation. That’s just for starters. Greenbelt states that IPX also has a “multi-gigawatt” project pipeline in the works.

In a press statement celebrating the launch of IPX, Glenn Jacobson, Managing Partner of Greenbelt Capital Partners, emphasized that the company will “focus on scaling its operating fleet and development pipeline as a well-capitalized independent power producer with a premier portfolio of solar and storage assets.”

Here’s a link to Greenbelt’s press release. Check it out. If you can find any use of the acronym ESG, drop a note in the comment thread. I came up empty, but maybe you’ll have better luck. After all, if it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, it must be a duck…

Photo: Solar power is still coming in hot in Texas, despite a lawsuit aimed at throttling back investment in renewable energy, brought against three leading investment firms by Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton (cropped, courtesy of Texas Office of the Public Comptroller).