Full Title: The Economic Impact of Renewable Energy and Energy Storage Investments Across Texas
Author(s): Joshua D. Rhodes
Publisher(s): IdeaSmiths LLC
Publication Date: January 27, 2025
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
This report is an update to a previous version that assessed the taxes and landowner payments paid by wind, solar, and energy storage projects. This report builds on the previous analysis by updating estimates of the local taxes and landowner payments that wind, solar, and energy storage will make over their lifetimes.
By their very nature, rural counties tend to depend more on agriculture and have fewer people and less industry per area than other regions. This arrangement is desirable for many Texans, but higher levels of ag-exempt land mean smaller tax bases, which can strain the budgets of rural counties. This strain is compounded by the fact that rural counties are often large in land area and have many miles of roads to maintain to be able to provide essential services to their residents. In Texas, these areas have recently become the focus for renewable energy and energy storage development given their abundant resources and available space. This report seeks to assess the financial benefits that renewables have and are expected to bring to these rural areas.