This Texas bill would ban offshore wind farms in state waters from connecting to ERCOT's grid

Texas lawmakers have advanced a bill to prohibit offshore wind turbines in the Gulf of Mexico from connecting to the state’s primary power grid through state waters.

Senate Bill 383 passed narrowly out of the relevant Texas House committee in a Tuesday meeting that wasn’t broadcast to the public or recorded. Since the bill has already been approved by the state Senate, all that’s left before it heads to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk is a vote by the full House floor.

The bill applies to any offshore wind energy facility and related power grid infrastructure located in waters under state jurisdiction, which extends nine nautical miles from the Texas coastline. 

A previous version of the bill would have given the state utility regulator the authority to approve or deny such projects based on their impact on shipping routes, tourism, fishing, wildlife and other factors.

The latest version of the bill simply bars any offshore wind project in Texas waters from connecting to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas power grid at all. 

Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas, an environmental advocacy nonprofit, said the bill would essentially “ban offshore wind” for the Texas power grid. 

That's more or less the point, the bill’s author, state Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, said in his remarks ahead of the Senate vote on the bill earlier this month. 

Texas should focus on building “dispatchable” energy resources, a term state legislators most commonly use to refer to natural gas power plants, instead of offshore wind, he said.  

“Texas should continue its commitment to reliable, dispatchable energy, and categorically reject this wasteful and unwanted program that will damage Texas,” said Middleton, who owns his own oil and gas company. He highlighted offshore wind's potential negative impacts on shipping routes and wildlife. 

Texas targets offshore wind power

Metzger said there are federal processes to mitigate environmental and other impacts of offshore wind projects. He questioned why discussions about the harms of offshore wind neglected to mention offshore oil and gas operations, of which the Gulf already has plenty.

“A lot of the proponents for an offshore wind ban seem to have nothing to say around the environmental impacts of things like offshore drilling,” he said. 

Jeff Clark, CEO of the Advanced Power Alliance, a trade association that counts offshore wind developers among its members, was more blunt.

“It's insane to me that the legislature would go out of its way to block a single type of energy from even having an opportunity to be considered in this market,” he said. “The precedent that this sets is shocking. ... It's hypocrisy on a monumental scale.”

Consumers would pay the price, he added, because offshore wind could produce power when Texas needs it most — during hot summer evenings, when other resources are strained. 

Before the Texas Senate passed the bill, almost entirely along party lines, Middleton introduced one amendment: To switch the language in the bill from “Gulf of Mexico” to “Gulf of America.”

The change signaled the bill’s alignment with the priorities of President Donald Trump, who has made no secret of his disdain for offshore wind farms after he couldn’t stop one from being built near one of his Scottish golf courses a decade ago. 

Trump paused all leasing of federal waters for offshore wind projects in an executive order on his first day back in office. His administration also paused, then recently unpaused, work on a major wind farm off the coast of New York, after intense lobbying from that state’s governor.

'A true boondoggle' near the Texas coast

Texas has the most onshore wind energy in the country by a large margin. But, there are no offshore wind farms in the Gulf Coast, and none currently under development for the ERCOT grid.

Indeed, it might be many years before an offshore wind project is underway, given that markets for the technology are more favorable in the Northeast, where electricity costs are higher and onshore energy resources are more scarce. The Gulf Coast region’s hurricane risks also put a damper on development.

OPINION: Texas leaders say offshore wind energy is an environmental threat. It’s not.

But, one day, offshore wind could be a good complement for the Gulf Coast, which already has an entire supply chain and workforce dedicated to offshore oil and gas operations. In fact, the Gulf Coast hosts 37% of the entire country’s offshore wind energy potential, according to a July report from the Department of Energy. 

The Biden administration had hoped to take advantage of the Gulf Coast’s wind resources to build a massive wind farm approximately 24 miles off the coast of Galveston. Federal auctions for companies to develop wind turbines in the Gulf, however, drew limited interest.

Middleton cited the Galveston proposal, which he called “a true boondoggle,” as an inspiration for his bill prohibiting offshore wind in state waters. 

“It’s important for Texas to take action to prevent future administrations from exploiting a bad idea off the Texas Gulf Coast,” he said during a committee hearing last month.

Shutting the door on offshore wind

Critics of the bill say it’s shortsighted for Texas to take offshore wind off the table entirely. 

Philip Rossetti, an energy fellow at R Street, a Washington center-right think tank, said it’s hard to predict what will happen in the energy world. 

It’s “entirely possible” that offshore wind costs could fall dramatically, while the cost of other natural resources like natural gas could go up. Thus, prohibiting an energy source now could lead to stress on the state’s power grid in the future, he said.  

“It would be a mistake to assume that we know enough now to shut the door on (offshore wind) completely,” Rossetti said. 

Environment Texas’ Metzger agreed. He said restricting offshore wind now could also close the door on Texas leading the way in hosting the nascent industry in the future. 

“It certainly flies against the open for business, all-of-the-above-energy strategy that Texas has been so known for, for decades. And certainly against free market principles, for the state to just completely ban an energy source,” he said. 

The Texas House has until May 28 to consider final votes on Senate bills.