Texas Turns Toward the Sun: Public Citizen Celebrates Solar Power
Public Citizen News / Nov-Dec 2025
By José Medina
This article appeared in the November/December 2025 edition of Public Citizen News. Download the full edition here.
Texas is known for its abundant resources, including the vast amounts of oil and gas that have been extracted for decades and shipped around the world. The state also benefits from another energy source that happens to be free: sunshine.
It might surprise many that the state known for its fossil fuels is also a leader in utility-scale solar-generated energy. It’s something that should be celebrated. That’s precisely what Public Citizen did this fall. On Sept. 21, members of our Texas office co-sponsored SUN DAY with the climate action group Third Act, celebrating renewable energy and encouraging rooftop solar adoption.
“Solar power is not only growing – it’s also saving Texas during periods of peak demand,” said Haley Schulz, Public Citizen’s Houston-area organizer who participated in the Bayou City’s SUN DAY event.
The Austin celebration was symbolically held on the grounds of the state Capitol, a place where policy decisions can make or break entire industries. The event featured informational talks on solar and other clean energy topics. It included a presentation by Kaiba White, a climate policy and outreach specialist with Public Citizen’s Texas office, who explained how homeowners can become solar adopters.
At the San Antonio SUN DAY event, Public Citizen’s Texas Director Adrian Shelley spoke about energy legislation considered during this year’s session of the Texas Legislature, which concluded in June.
In Houston, Schulz provided information and updates on Public Citizen’s work at both national and local levels, highlighting the clean energy transition campaign with the group Close Parish Coal, which aims to end the use of coal at the WA Parish power plant in neighboring Fort Bend County.
There were approximately 450 SUN DAY events held nationwide, with additional celebrations in other countries. The current iteration of SUN DAY is the brainchild of journalist and activist Bill McKibben. He recently explained the idea in an interview with the New York Times:
“Solar power is no longer the ”Whole Foods of energy — nice but pricey.” It has become the “Costco of power — cheap, available in bulk, and on the shelf ready to go.”
Texas has come to the same conclusion. Renewable sources of energy have stabilized the state’s grid and lowered prices.
In the years since the deadly Winter Storm Uri left millions of Texans without power in 2021, Texas has faced other close calls, with state officials urging the public to conserve energy to avoid outages. Happily, the state has avoided another power outage disaster thanks largely to the booming solar and wind industries, which have, at times, provided more than half the energy Texans need to keep the lights on and homes cool.
Still, Texas has plenty of room to grow its renewable usage. While it leads in large-scale wind and solar power generation, it lags behind other states in small-scale installations commonly seen in homes and businesses. Public Citizen is actively working in several Texas cities to support local policies that make such installations easier and more financially sound.
“Rooftop solar minimizes environmental impact, which reduces electric bills. The challenge is in financing the up-front investment needed to access those benefits,” said White, whose work in Austin includes efforts to decarbonize the city’s electric utility and convincing the city council to support solar installations on city buildings as well as residential solar incentive programs.
“Texas has big skies and lots of sunshine year-round,” White added. “We should harness that energy in order to power the world into the future. It will happen if we get the word out with events like SUN DAY and strong pro-renewable advocacy at every level of government.”