AUSTIN, Texas — Texas has made meaningful progress on rules for decommissioning and disposing of wind, solar, and energy storage facilities, but gaps remain that could leave Texans facing billions of dollars in future unfunded liabilities. That is a central finding of Addressing the Environmental Challenges of Wind, Solar, and Energy Storage in Texas, a new study by Brent Bennett, Ph.D. of the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Life:Powered campaign.
Texas has more installed and planned wind and solar capacity than any other state. The study cites an estimate that Texas faces about $8.8 billion in expected decommissioning liabilities, the highest in the nation. The consequences of weak oversight are already visible in Sweetwater. In February 2026, the Texas Attorney General sued a company accused of illegally dumping more than 3,000 wind turbine blades and parts at unpermitted sites there.
“Texas has built more wind and solar than any other state, and the bill for cleaning it up is coming due. Sweetwater shows what happens when the rules have gaps. Developers, not Texas landowners and ratepayers, should be responsible for the costs these projects create,” said Bennett.
The study recommends adding disposal and recycling requirements for battery storage facilities, strengthening financial assurance requirements for decommissioning, and reforming the electricity market so developers stop shifting reliability and transmission costs onto Texas ratepayers.
“When wind and solar developers begin paying for the costs they impose while they are operating, Texans will be more willing and better positioned to deal with the end-of-life costs of those resources,” the study concludes.
The full study is available here.