The Spindletop gusher, known for triggering the Texas oil boom in 1901, established the state’s U.S. oil industry leadership for many decades and launched its enormous contribution to the nation’s energy, economic and military security. More than a century later, Texas is enjoying a second Spindletop moment.
The story of Spindletop began after Anthony Lucas and Pattillo Higgins united to apply theories that salt dome formations might contain vast stores of oil. For nearly a decade, Higgins had covetously eyed the rounded rise of the so-called Spindletop salt formation amid flat country just south of Beaumont, Tex.
But before the two men could partner up to tap Spindletop, they had to overcome a dense grove of entrenched institutional skepticism, resistance and conservatism.
They cleared legal and regulatory hurdles to secure drilling rights from local landowners wary about the riskiness of oil exploration. Partly thanks to protections in Texas’ then-recent antitrust legislation, they battled already entrenched big oil companies wielding control over pipeline, rail, refining, distribution and marketing channels. To cover the steep costs of their exploratory gamble, they ceded most of their project ownership to out-of-state investors to secure financing.
But due to their perseverance, they struck the blowout that would yield 100,000 barrels a day and total well-related revenue approaching $1 billion in today’s dollars – and make Texas and United States history.
Policy implications
Texas is now a new kind of energy giant, spurred by the trifecta of plentiful sun, open land and business friendliness. Texas led all states in new solar capacity installed in 2023 and 2024, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), and “and that trend should continue, barring new state policies that unfairly discriminate against solar and storage,” SEIA said on its website. Its growth projection puts Texas in the number one spot in five years, expected to add 41 GW.
As in 1901, energy entrepreneurs are tapping their bank accounts for solar investments in a fast-growing industry while they’re grappling with regulators and landowners wary about the environmental impacts and unfamiliar riskiness of the perceived new technology. Considering the scale of Texas’ solar industry, outcomes in the two political arenas affecting its fate – the state legislature and U.S. Congress – bear outsized implications for the U.S. industry and nation.
The Texas legislature is down to the wire in considering an array of measures, most notably Senate Bill 819, that likely would restrain the industry’s drive statewide. But barring extraordinary measures, the assembly has only until its session’s end on June 2 to act.
By extending development timelines and increasing project costs, SEIA suggested in a statement that such legislation would amount to a “turn away from the pro-energy and pro-business policies that made the Lone Star State the energy capital.”
SEIA and other opponents also have suggested that the measures would subject the fledgling industry to tougher controls than those regulating the oil industry.
Jeff Clark, chief executive officer of Texas Power Alliance, struck a graver chord on the potential impact of SB 819. “This bill will kill renewable energy in Texas,” said Clark, testifying in a legislative hearing on behalf of the trade association of Texas clean-energy industries.
The bills’ backers argue that their initiatives would limit solar developments’ environmental harms, better involve communities in project reviews and ensure the projects cohere with regional planning and conservation goals.
Yet, interests of Big Oil, no stranger to environmental degradation, are strong advocates for legislation that might slow the state’s renewable energy ramp.
Separately, Republicans in the U.S. Senate are clashing over whether to preserve incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 to boost new investments in solar manufacturing, which will affect the companies that have already set up shop (or planning to) in Texas.
Solar manufacturing
In a time of uncertainty, some manufacturing plans hang in the balance. In one instance, defenders of the incentives point to Chinese-owned Trina Solar’s sale of its new factory in Wilmer, Texas, to Freyr shortly after the November election. That manufacturing endeavor has since rebranded as TI Energy and announced a move to Austin.
SEIA found that in Q4 2024, Texas had 107 manufacturers contributing to the solar supply chain and that number is growing with recent announcements of solar manufacturers setting up shop or expanding manufacturing in the state. Some of those include:
- Waaree Energies, a solar manufacturer based in India, announced a $1 billion investment last year in a solar cell and module plant outside of Houston, and recently announced an expansion in its module-making plans.
- In March, Mission Solar announced a 2 GW solar cell manufacturing facility in San Antonio.
- After starting production at its Shanghai energy storage factory a few months ago, Waller County, approved a tax deal for Tesla to build a factory to produce large-scale lithium-ion battery systems.
- Also in Waller County, Elin Energy, a Turkish module manufacturer, began producing solar modules a year ago.
- SEG Solar opened a 2 GW solar module plant in Houston in 2024.
Image: SEG Solar
Lawmakers conferring in the Texas capital of Austin and Washington, D.C., are debating, in effect, whether Texas will remain a solar gusher or a more modestly flowing so-called pumper.
Shaping the future
Just as the Spindletop super-producer altered the course of national oil-industry development for more than a century, lawmakers’ decisions now will help shape the future of Texas’ economic prosperity, the national solar industry’s development and the country’s energy footing.
If Spindletop oilman Anthony Lucas were a photovoltaic technologist today envisioning the rise of solar technology as a major force in the nation’s energy foundation, he likely would have taken the long view, mirroring the calm confidence he felt about the strength of Spindletop’s possibilities.
“I knew we were going to hit it,” he is widely quoted as saying. “It was just a matter of time.”
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Solar energy here in Texas is not reliable energy. We have spent days without power during freezing temperatures . We did not vote for this, didn’t ask for it, it was shoved down our throats. The only reliable energy at this point is fossil fuels.
Some of my best solar production days in NH have been mid-winter. Yes, the sun does shine when it is below freezing! And yes, solar energy can be stored, as we do, for cloudy, stormy days and we have power when the fossil fuel and nuclear plants can’t deliver. Need them all!!!
Does the burning of fossil fuels contribute to the weather extremes that have become common place in all regions of the country? I’ll leave that discussion for others.
That is a myth. The loss of power during freezing temperatures in the huge event that occurred several years ago was due to over 300 fossil fuel plants seizing up at various times due to the temperatures. That in turn de-electrified the grid to the point that power from alternative energy sources couldn’t be transmitted, which is how Abbot was then able to spin it as a failure of alternative energy. Fossils fuels are not reliable in cold weather. Anyone trying to start a cat in freezing temperatures knows this
These solar “farms” that are obliterating our agricultural lands in North Texas are a collective eyesore and an abomination. This once beautiful state has to contend with out of control residential and commercial development already. Open land means nothing but $$$ to the greedy hordes that have descended upon us like locusts. Shame on our state government for encouraging this “growth”. $$$ trumps our rural areas and way of life.
Our only option is to outrun this cancer but where would we go? For those of us who live God’s creation and abhor development these are sad times indeed!
Texas failed energy system killed people, but not due to renewable energy. It was the Texas energy beauracracy that failed enforcement of good grid resiliency for cold weather. It was mainly natural gas failing during that period. The goto energy for tough times fell way short.
With intelligent carful planning, Texas can leave behind fossil fuels and have a very robust system of energy. But it requires leadership that that state is not able to produce at this time. I fear they are going to keep floundering until they get it right.
Fossil fuels depend on water. Texas is going dry. The end result is fossil fuels are not the long term answer to the obvious shortage of electricity in Texas. Restrictions on other sources will eventually kill growth in Texas along with the economy.
I agree with with Mr. Exter.
It is obvious that fossil fuels are the wrong answer since they have been destroying the safety and stability of our climate for decades.
Solar helps but depends on battery storage in order to provide instantaneous power demand, plus a robust and weather proof transmission grid. That is, unless you consume and store the energy that your solar generation power produces.
One renewable source that I believe makes the most sense is Geothermal. There are locations in Texas and many other areas where shallow wells, similar to oil wells, can be used to generate 430 psig steam to drive turbines for electric power generation to feed the grid 24 hours a day. The technology and equipment are well known and the resource is more than our society can consume into the new era.