For the season finale, we're back where we started: Austin. But more than talking about how people in Austin feel about the energy transition and the energy industry more generally, we're considering how the proceedings in Austin affect the energy portfolio throughout Texas. We'll hear from lawmakers, lobbyists, experts, and utilities about how what happens in Austin, changes the state.

Voices from across Texas energy:

"We can argue philosophically about a lot of things, but the reality is this state today is hugely dependent upon the power generated by those forms of generation whether that's wind, solar, or batteries," said Texas State Rep. Drew Darby.

"We need to recognize that there are sacrifices that people in rural Texas have to make in order to provide those goods and services to people who want to live in cities," said Texas State Rep. Drew Darby.

"In Texas, I think very little have we seen people be opposed to a project because of politics," said Catlin Smith, Senior Vice President of Federal and Regulatory Affairs at Jupiter Power.

"When political scientists think about opposition to renewable energy and the energy transition, generally, they're of two minds: There's a group that thinks it's all about economics and economic self interest, and there's another group of people who are focusing on partisan polarization and the fact that the two parties are growing apart on renewable energy," said David Spence, professor of energy regulation at the University of Texas.

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At more than 600 megawatts…the Frye Solar Plant has more power capacity than the town it operates in has official residents. Located on almost six square miles, about an hour north of Lubbock in Kress, Texas - population 592 - the project is a microcosm of the energy industry expansion occurring throughout the Lone Star State. In return for a lease to construct huge energy infrastructure projects, a few landowners get a nice pay day, but what benefit do they bring to the area as a whole? And what about electricity bills for the plant's residential neighbors? Surely those go down, right? All that and more on the next episode of Phases and Stages: The Texas Energy Story.

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Matagorda County, with a population of a little more than 36,000 people, has a few working oil
and gas wells, but it's also home to a nuclear power plant, several wind and solar farms, and
could soon be the home of a hydrogen-based eFuels operation. It's less than a two-hour drive
from Houston, but some in town wanted to rebrand this part of the state "The Energy Capital of
Texas," and you can't really blame 'em.

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⁠Learn more about The Energy Institute at The University of Texas at Austin