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Sourced, plain-English guides for the people building solar, wind, and storage projects: what the rules say, what the grid operator requires, and what each county has done, each linked to its source. Putting solar on a home or business instead? Start with homes and businesses and your utility's application links.

Every question, answered from the record

102 questions across 48 pages, each answered with a link to the agency, statute, or dataset behind it. Type to filter; Enter opens the first match.

Taxes, title and minerals12 questions
Leases, offers and money6 questions
Grid and interconnection17 questions
Permits and approvals9 questions
Safety, neighbors and the end of a project11 questions
Markets, data centers and the numbers20 questions
Land and siting4 questions
Homes and businesses3 questions
Other questions20 questions

How to apply: permits and interconnection

One guide per permit or approval the land report names. Each lists what the application asks for and where to find it: the land report, the appraisal district, the landowner, your engineer, or the agency's own site, with the official portal links and screenshots.

Energy questions people search for

The questions people type into search about electricity, the grid, bills, solar, wind, batteries, gas, and nuclear, each answered from the primary source and linked to it. Written October 24, 2026.

The grid and outages7 questions
Data centers and demand2 questions
Bills and prices3 questions
Tax credits and policy1 question
Solar8 questions
Wind2 questions
Battery storage1 question
Natural gas and nuclear3 questions
Electric vehicles1 question

Also under Guides: how-to pages across the site

Browse by audience: For developers and energy professionals · For homes and businesses

For developers and energy professionals

You work on projects for a developer, utility, or consultant and need the process, the contacts, and the documents.

Briefings for developers10 pages
How to use Parcel & GridNine steps in the order a developer works a site, with what each gives you and its limit. The ERCOT Queue BriefA monthly, sourced digest of what changed in the ERCOT interconnection queue: new requests, withdrawals, stage changes, crowded POIs, slipping schedules, rules and dates. Choosing suppliers: the public evidenceIndependent reliability scorecards, published market rankings, and the tax-credit, trade and safety rules that decide what a project can buy. Data centers needing powerLarge-load queues and forecasts, the Texas SB 6 rules, co-location and PPA deal structures, named campuses, and the risks regulators flag. Development schedule by market: Gantt with leads and lagsMonth-by-month charts for ERCOT, SPP, MISO, PJM, CAISO, NYISO, ISO-NE and FERC-default utilities: operator steps, imposed waits, and the work that must start early. Acquiring development-stage projectsStages and milestone payments, what transfers in ERCOT, the diligence list, public records for verification, and deal-market data. Diligence ReaderRead a CIA, ALTA, title commitment, lease or interconnection study in your browser with your own API key: constraints, dates, costs, open items, what to commission next. How to determine the point of interconnectionPublic data, voltage class, operator studies, reading the queue, the gen-tie, and the ERCOT rules that attach once a POI is chosen. Public companies in ERCOT: what their filings sayFleet MW, Texas projects, large-load requests, queue counts, capital plans and risk-factor language, quoted from SEC filings. No prices, no ratings. Energy project development jobs: pay, growth, hiringPay, projected growth, and hiring difficulty for development, engineering, construction, and field roles, from BLS, DOE, and IREC data.
Grid and market data5 pages
Grid interconnection by market and utilitySteps, fees, application windows, and study timelines for ERCOT, SPP, MISO, PJM, CAISO, and other regions, plus where to apply with each Texas utility. Interconnection links by utilityOfficial links for every step, from rules and applications to fees, queues, and agreements, for homes, businesses, and utility-scale projects in every U.S. market. ERCOT proposed projects by county, type, and stageEvery project in ERCOT's monthly interconnection report, with totals by type, stage, region, and county. Texas energy projects by the numbersHow many solar, wind, and battery projects are proposed, where, how far along, and what changed this month. Rebuilt from each ERCOT report. Solar site software: what developers useFree government maps, low-cost apps, and professional developer platforms, with prices where published.4 min read
Rules that shape a project3 pages
Texas property tax incentives for solar, wind, and storageChapter 313 is gone, JETI excludes renewables and batteries, and Chapter 312 abatements survived the 2025 session. What is left and how it works.6 min read Battery storage fire safety in Texas: the 2025 law and your landWhat NFPA 855 and Texas's new Chapter 187 require of battery sites, what counties can and cannot do, and what to ask before signing.6 min read Texas decommissioning law for solar and battery projectsRemoval, restoration, financial assurance, and the 20-year timing detail most landowners miss, from the statutes.5 min read
Title and site control6 pages
Mineral rights and solar leases in TexasThe dominant mineral estate, the accommodation doctrine, a real solar court case, and what to ask before signing.6 min read Pipelines and oil and gas lines under a solar projectHow existing pipeline easements shape a solar layout, crossing agreements, new pipeline easements, and the Texas dig-safety law.6 min read Transmission line easements and eminent domain in TexasHow the PUC picks routes, how to intervene, what a utility's offer must include, and the easement terms Texas law requires.7 min read Solar leases and your Texas ag valuation: rollback taxes explainedWhat triggers a rollback, how it is calculated under current law, whether sheep grazing helps, and who should pay.7 min read Selling your solar lease payments for a lump sum: what it really costsCompanies offer landowners cash now for decades of future rent. What you give up, the tax question, and how to compare offers.6 min read Wind leases in Texas: payments, turbines, and what to negotiateHow wind leases pay, why grazing usually continues, the clauses that protect you, and the removal rules Texas law requires.7 min read
How solar, wind, and the grid work6 pages
How long do solar panels last?Solar panels are expected to last 25+ years and lose about 0.5% of output a year. What fails first, design life, and what it means for Texas leases. What happens to a solar farm at the end of its life?Repowering vs. removal, what Texas law requires for removal, restoration, and financial assurance, the 2025 recycling duty, and where old panels go. What is ERCOT, and why does it matter to landowners?ERCOT runs the grid for most of Texas. Which areas are outside it, what its interconnection queue report shows, and how landowners can use it. Substation vs. transmission line: why do developers care?Transmission lines move high-voltage power; substations change voltage. Why developers want land near a substation with room, and what gen-ties are. How much land does a battery storage site need?Battery storage needs about 0.03 to 0.1 acres per MW, per Indiana's energy office, plus room for setbacks and roads. Texas 2025 rules explained. Are data centers buying Texas land?ERCOT large-load requests passed 438 GW by June 2026 and 474 GW by July, mostly data centers. What SB 6 changed, what sites developers want, what to check.
How to apply: permits and interconnection11 pages
How to get TCEQ stormwater coverage (TXR150000)Where to find each item the TCEQ construction stormwater notice of intent asks for, and how to file it in STEERS before breaking ground. How to get a county floodplain development permitThe county floodplain administrator's permit for building in a FEMA special flood hazard area: what it asks for and where each item comes from. How to apply for a Section 404 permit (Corps of Engineers)ENG Form 4345 and the delineation behind it: where every item comes from, from the report's wetland rows to the Corps district office. How to run the USFWS species review (IPaC and Section 7)Get the official species list from IPaC, and know when a federal permit turns it into a Section 7 consultation. How to file for Texas Historical Commission review (Section 106)What the THC asks for in eTRAC when a federal permit, federal money or public land brings cultural-resources review. How to get a TxDOT driveway permit and utility accommodation approvalForm 1058 for a driveway onto a state road, and the district approval for a gen-tie, pipe or cable in state right of way. How to get a well permit from a groundwater conservation districtConstruction and O&M wells go through the local groundwater district where one exists; here is what the permit asks for. How to file FAA Form 7460-1 (notice of proposed construction)Turbines, met towers and anything else over the 14 CFR 77.9 heights: what the FAA notice needs and where each item comes from. How to get a county road use agreement and a Chapter 312 tax abatementTexas counties have no siting permit; what they do handle is the road use agreement and the tax abatement, both through the commissioners court. How to file an ERCOT interconnection request (GINR) in RIOO-ISThe ERCOT request from account to signed agreement: what RIOO-IS asks for and where each item comes from. How to register with the PUCT (PGC) and ERCOT (Resource Entity)The two registrations every Texas generator completes before selling power: the PUCT PGC form (16 TAC 25.109) and ERCOT Resource Entity registration.
Energy questions people search for most28 pages
How does the power grid work?Three interconnections, generation to transmission to distribution, who runs it, and the roughly 5% lost on the way (EIA). What causes power outages, and how long do they usually last?In 2024 the average U.S. customer lost power for about 11 hours, 9 of them from major events like hurricanes; routine outages average about 2 hours (EIA). What is the difference between a megawatt and a megawatt-hour?A megawatt is a rate; a megawatt-hour is an amount. A 100 MW plant running flat out for a day makes 2,400 MWh, and homes per MW is not a fixed number (EIA). Why does Texas have its own power grid?ERCOT is one of three US interconnections; it serves about 90% of Texas load and 27 million customers under PUCT and Legislature oversight (EIA, ERCOT). Why did the Texas grid fail in February 2021?FERC and NERC found 20,000 MW of load shed, 4.5 million Texans without power, and freezing (44.2%) plus fuel (31.4%) behind most generator failures. How much electricity do data centers use?U.S. data centers used 176 TWh in 2023, 4.4% of U.S. electricity, and LBNL projects 325 to 580 TWh (6.7% to 12%) by 2028. Will data centers raise my electric bill or cause blackouts?What each side cites: PJM capacity prices at the $333.44/MW-day cap, 5,100 MW of data-center load growth, a 474 GW ERCOT request queue, and Texas SB 6. Is the grid going to have blackouts this winter or summer?NERC flags seven areas, including ERCOT, for possible shortfalls in extreme winter 2025–26 conditions; routine outages average about 2 hours a year (NERC, EIA). Why is my electric bill so high?U.S. homes paid an average 17.30 cents per kWh in 2025 and used about 899 kWh a month. The five cost drivers EIA names, and what to check on your bill. How much electricity does the average home use?The average U.S. residential customer bought 10,791 kWh in 2022, about 899 kWh a month, with state averages from 6,178 kWh (Hawaii) to 14,774 kWh (Louisiana). Where does U.S. electricity come from?In 2023, natural gas supplied 43.1% of U.S. utility-scale generation, nuclear 18.6%, coal 16.2%, and renewables 21.4%, per EIA. What is the cheapest source of electricity?EIA says direct LCOE comparisons across technologies are misleading. What its AEO2025 cost report measures, which tax credits it includes, and what it omits. Can I choose my electricity provider?Only where a state has restructured retail electricity and mostly for investor-owned utility customers. Texas ERCOT-area customers must choose, per EIA. Is there still a federal solar tax credit?The section 25D residential credit is not allowed for expenditures after December 31, 2025, and the IRS counts an expenditure when installation is completed. Is the EV tax credit gone?New and used clean vehicle credits end for vehicles acquired after September 30, 2025; the section 30C charger credit runs through June 30, 2026. Why do natural gas prices go up and down?Henry Hub swung from $1.49 per MMBtu in March 2024 to $7.72 in January 2026 and back to $2.95 by September 2026. The supply and demand factors EIA names. What is a small modular reactor?DOE says advanced SMRs range from tens to hundreds of megawatts. The NRC approved the six-module, 462 MWe NuScale US460 standard design in May 2025. Can closed nuclear plants restart?Three U.S. restarts are in NRC review. Palisades rescinded its shutdown certifications in August 2025; Crane and Duane Arnold have no operating approval yet. How much do solar panels cost?Residential solar ran $3.2 to $5.2 per watt by state in 2023 (LBNL); utility-scale about $1.43 per watt AC (NREL). The 25D home credit ended after 2025. How do solar panels work?PV cells absorb sunlight and push charges across an internal electric field; an inverter makes AC. U.S. utility-scale PV ran at 24.0% capacity factor in 2025. Do solar panels work on cloudy days and in winter?Yes, at reduced output. DOE names clouds as the main production challenge; NREL PVWatts shows the month-by-month pattern for any address. Are solar panels worth it?Four inputs decide it: PVWatts output, your price per kWh (Texas averaged 9.79 cents in 2024), installed cost of $3.2 to $5.2 per watt, and credit status. What is net metering, and does Texas have it?Net metering credits exported solar kWh against your bill. Texas has no statewide mandate: Utilities Code 39.916 leaves the surplus price to agreement. How much power does a 1 MW solar farm produce?About 2,100 MWh a year at the 2025 U.S. utility-scale PV capacity factor of 24.0% (EIA), or roughly 1,900 to 3,000 MWh across NREL resource classes. How do wind turbines work, and how much power does one make?Blades use lift to spin a generator. New U.S. turbines averaged 3.4 MW in 2023; at the 2025 fleet capacity factor of 33.8% that is about 10,000 MWh a year. What are the disadvantages of wind energy?DOE lists four challenges: cost competition, remote sites, noise and views, and wildlife. USGS puts bird collisions at a quarter- to a half-million a year. Are solar panels bad for the environment?NREL harmonized life-cycle studies put PV below 50 g CO2e per kWh. EPA notes lead and cadmium may be present and panels can be recycled. No verdict. How does battery storage work, and how much does it cost?Grid batteries store power and return 85% of it. NREL puts a 4-hour utility-scale system at $334 per kWh in 2024; Texas planned 7.0 GW of additions in 2025.
County-level detail1 page
Texas permits by county: contacts and documentsPick any of 254 counties for its appraisal district, TCEQ office, and the state and federal agencies a solar, wind, or storage project deals with.

For homes and businesses

You want solar or a battery on a house, shop, farm building, or business, connected through your electric utility.

Solar for homes and businessesRooftop and business solar in Texas, Illinois, and Arizona: net metering and export rates, utility applications, HOA rules, tax breaks, and federal credits. Interconnection links by utilityOfficial links for every step, from rules and applications to fees, queues, and agreements, for homes, businesses, and utility-scale projects in every U.S. market.

Get the land report

Click your land on the map to get its free land report: flood zone, wetlands, nearest power line, soils, survey location, and the half-mile, 500-acre standout test. In Texas and 26 other states, parcel acreage fills in automatically.

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