The Renewable Power Shift: Former Fossil States Now Turning Green

The Unexpected Clean Energy Revolution Has Begun

The American energy landscape is witnessing something extraordinary. Although there was a slight rise in overall fossil generation and CO2 emissions (+0.7%), the rise in power demand was much faster than the rise in power sector emissions making per unit electricity the cleanest it has ever been.

This shift isn't happening in predictable places either. Some of the most surprising leaders in renewable energy are states that built their entire economies on oil and gas.

In a twist that would make even Hollywood screenwriters jealous, former fossil fuel giants are now racing to become clean energy powerhouses. Generation from all low-carbon power sources – renewables plus nuclear – surpassed 40% of global electricity in 2024 for the first time since the 1940s.

What's driving this transformation isn't politics or environmental activism alone – it's pure economics. Solar module prices fell 35 percent to 9 cents per watt; EV batteries are now below $100/kWh and often at cost parity with their fossil-fueled competition.

The numbers don't lie, and neither do the profits. When wind turbines and solar panels start generating more money than oil wells, even the most traditional energy states pay attention.

Texas Emerges as America's Unlikely Green Energy Superpower

If you told someone a decade ago that Texas would become America's renewable energy leader, they'd probably assume you'd been spending too much time in the desert sun. Yet here we are, with the Lone Star State dominating every category that matters.

Texas is dominating the development of renewable energy generation and battery capacity within the United States, and is estimated to have installed nearly 80% more combined solar, wind and battery capacity than the next largest state. The numbers are staggering when you really look at them.

The Lone Star state has 42,000 megawatts (MW) of wind power, 22,000 MW of solar farms and 6,500 MW of utility-scale battery capacity in place as of the end of 2024, data from Cleanview and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows.

To put this in perspective, that's more renewable capacity than most entire countries possess. The transformation has been so rapid it's hard to keep up with – Since 2019, Texas power firms have boosted solar generation capacity by 800%, wind capacity by 50% and battery storage capacity by an eye-popping 5,500%, according to energy data portal Cleanview.

Those installations have resulted in wind and solar farms generating roughly 30% of the state's electricity in 2024.

From Oil Wells to Wind Farms – A Cultural Revolution

The shift in Texas goes deeper than just numbers on spreadsheets. It's changing the very culture of how Texans think about energy and land use.

We have a lot of cheap, flat land that's sunny and windy. So we've got a place to get the resource, and we got a place to build it, and we got a habit or a cultural familiarity with making money from the land.

So that's kind of who we are and what we do. Ranchers who once relied solely on cattle and oil leases are discovering that wind turbines can be incredibly profitable tenants.

The beauty of wind power is that it doesn't compete with traditional land use – cows can still graze around turbines, and farmers can still plant crops. In 2024, Texas produced the equivalent of 34% of the electricity it consumes from wind and solar power, compared with just 12% in 2015.

Together, the wind and solar energy produced in Texas in 2024 could power 15.6M U.S. households for a year.

What's particularly fascinating is how this has happened despite significant political resistance. Conservative groups initially fought renewable energy tooth and nail, but economics have a way of overcoming ideology.

The Market Forces That Changed Everything

Economics, not environmentalism, is driving this transformation. At the same time, wind and solar are now the cheapest sources of electricity in many markets.

When renewable energy becomes the financially smart choice, even the most conservative investors start paying attention. Texas benefits from a deregulated electricity market that rewards the cheapest energy sources, which increasingly means renewables.

Texas has its own electricity grid, run by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, and a market that requires owners of power plants to compete on price. This is different from most of the country, where power plants have guaranteed profits under state regulation.

The state's business-friendly environment has made it easier for renewable developers to build projects quickly. Texas also is friendly to developers in terms of obtaining permits to build projects and connect to the grid.

This, too, is different from most of the country, where developers often need to work through years of obstacles from local governments, state regulators and regional grid operators. When you combine cheap resources with friendly regulations and competitive markets, the results speak for themselves.

California's Renewable Energy Maturation Story

While Texas has grabbed headlines with its explosive growth, California has been quietly perfecting its renewable energy mix. California gets around 40% of its electricity from wind and solar sources, up from around 25% in 2019, thanks mainly to an aggressive climb in solar generation.

The Golden State's approach has been more measured but equally impressive. Around 9,000 MW of solar capacity has been added to California's power system since 2019, to bring the state's total solar capacity footprint to around 21,500 MW in 2024.

Over the same period, California's utility-scale battery network has grown from around 240 MW in 2019 to over 11,000 MW last year - the largest in the country. California's success comes from a different model than Texas – one that combines aggressive state policies with technological innovation.

The state has become a testing ground for advanced grid technologies that help manage the challenges of renewable integration. Unlike Texas, which focuses primarily on generation, California has invested heavily in storage and grid modernization.

Norway's Renewable Paradox - Leading While Still Pumping

Norway presents one of the most fascinating cases in the global energy transition. Norway has an almost entirely renewables-based electricity system, with renewable resources accounting for 98% of generation in 2020, of which hydro is the dominant source at 92%.

The country has achieved something remarkable – a completely clean domestic electricity system while simultaneously being one of the world's largest oil and gas exporters. Today, Norwegians enjoy a 95 percent renewable electricity grid, around 92 percent of which comes from hydropower.

This creates an interesting dynamic where Norway exports fossil fuels to fund its transition to an even greener future. By 2025, Norway plans to ban the sale of fossil fuel cars, a move that reflects the country's commitment to reducing emissions in all sectors of the economy.

In 2023, over 90% of new cars sold in Norway were electric, a sign that the country is well on its way to achieving its ambitious climate goals. The country is essentially using oil wealth to build the infrastructure for a post-oil world.

Since the 1990s, they've also poured billions of dollars into onshore and offshore wind, and millions of dollars more into carbon capture and storage under the North Sea. As many other European nations scramble to build out renewable infrastructure, Norway provides a model for a smooth domestic energy transition.

The Solar Revolution Reshaping Global Energy Markets

Solar power has become the engine of the global energy transition, with both solar generation and capacity installations setting new records in 2024. Solar generation has maintained its high growth rate, doubling in the last three years, and adding more electricity than any other source over that period.

The speed of solar adoption has surprised even optimistic projections. Global renewable energy capacity grew by a record-breaking 15.1% in 2024 to reach 4,448 gigawatts (GW).

Around the world, an additional 585 GW of power was added, largely due to solar and wind energy expansion, figures released by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) show. Solar's dominance comes from its incredible cost reductions and scalability.

Solar energy remained the driving force behind this expansion, responsible for 42% of the total global renewable power capacity mix. The solar sector alone grew by 32.2%, adding almost 452 GW to reach a total capacity of 1 865 GW worldwide.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) technology accounted for virtually all solar capacity growth, demonstrating its continued cost-effectiveness and scalability. What makes solar particularly transformative is how it can be deployed at any scale – from rooftop installations to massive utility-scale projects.

Battery Storage - The Game Changer for Renewable Reliability

The missing piece of the renewable puzzle has always been storage, but that's changing rapidly. Battery storage nearly doubled in 2024, with total installed capacity reaching almost 29 GW — and projected to grow another 47% in 2025.

This growth in capacity will help support the grid when variable renewable energy technologies, such as solar and wind, are unavailable, making the U.S. power system more stable and secure.

Texas is leading this storage revolution alongside its renewable expansion. In total across the United States, around 62,000 MW of grid-scale battery storage is expected to be deployed between 2024 and 2028, according to a report by consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

An additional 10,000 MW of residential storage capacity and around 2,500 MW of commercial and industrial storage is also expected to emerge before the end of the decade. Battery storage solves the fundamental challenge that critics have always raised about renewables – what happens when the sun doesn't shine or the wind doesn't blow.

The outlook for battery storage capacity is bright, with installed battery capacity estimated to roughly triple from around 5,400 MW currently to more than 15,000 MW by mid-2025, ERCOT data shows. For power producers, that increase in system storage could help offset any continued shortfalls in wind output and allow overall power generation trends to get cleaner over time, even during periods when the wind stops blowing.

The Economic Impact Driving Political Change

The renewable energy transformation is creating massive economic opportunities that are hard to ignore. According to American Clean Power Association, at least 160 clean energy manufacturing facilities or expansions have been announced since August 2022, driven by tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act, with 47 announced in 2024 alone.

Collectively, these facilities are expected to result in 100,000 new manufacturing jobs and at least $500 billion in investment, $75 billion of which has already been spent. These aren't just temporary construction jobs either – they represent a fundamental shift in America's manufacturing base.

Domestic manufacturing of solar modules in particular grew substantially in 2024 to surpass 50 GW — enough to meet all existing U.S. solar demand — with five new or expanded manufacturing facilities in Alabama, Florida, Ohio and Texas.

In addition, manufacturing of silicon cells for solar resumed in the U.S. in 2024 for the first time since 2019.

The clean energy sector is becoming one of the fastest-growing sources of employment. With this surge in investment, clean energy is a dominant driver of domestic jobs in the energy industry.

According to Deloitte, clean energy jobs represented more than half of energy jobs added in 2023. When renewable energy starts creating more jobs than fossil fuels, political attitudes begin to shift remarkably quickly.

The Reality of Global Energy Transition Momentum

Despite political rhetoric and resistance from vested interests, the global momentum toward renewables appears unstoppable. Fossil fuel emissions appeared to rise 0.8 percent to 37.4 GtCO2 in 2024, but multiple analyses show that they may well peak and decline in 2025.

Half the world or more has passed peak demand for residential gas and gasoline, and more than half of countries are 5+ years past the peak for fossil electricity. The transition is being driven by multiple factors beyond environmental concerns.

At the same time, electricity demand saw a significant rise in 2024, outpacing the growth in clean electricity. Expanding technologies such as AI, data centres, electric vehicles and heat pumps are already contributing to the rise in global demand.

However, the main reason why electricity demand growth was elevated in 2024 compared to 2023 was an increase in air conditioning use during heatwaves. Even as demand grows rapidly, renewables are keeping pace.

Despite this, it remains clear that clean generation growth and the uptake of flexible technologies such as battery storage will reduce reliance on fossil fuel power in the coming years, even in a world of faster demand growth. We estimate that even if electricity demand grows at 4.1% per year until 2030, which exceeds current expectations, clean generation growth will be fast enough to keep pace.

What started as an environmental movement has become an economic revolution that even former fossil fuel strongholds can't ignore. When Texas ranchers make more money from wind turbines than oil wells, you know something fundamental has shifted.

The renewable power transition isn't just changing how we generate electricity – it's reshaping entire economies and challenging long-held assumptions about energy and prosperity. Have you ever imagined oil states would lead the clean energy charge?

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