Let the sun shine, which it does continually in West Texas.

A huge solar plant is now being planned for an area west of Fort Stockton in Pecos County. It will be a 22-megawatt operation, one of the largest of its kind in Texas — and it could signal a new twist in the state’s ability to harvest alternative forms of energy.

http://www.texastribune.org/2014/01/22/solar-plant-planned-west-texas/

The sun does shine a lot out here in the West Texas prairie. Amarillo gets more than 300 days of sunshine, some of it intense — such as it is today, even though it’s colder than a well-digger’s backside.

Why not harvest that sunlight for energy, kind of like what’s happening with wind, another energy commodity that is in infinite supply out here?

Oh, I forgot. West Texas also is home to a lot of oil and natural gas operations. Do you think those folks have something to say about how we configure the energy grid? I’m guessing, well, yes, in a big way.

Back to the Pecos County plan.

The Texas Tribune reports: “This is an important step forward in our efforts to establish West Texas as a center for renewable energy,” Pecos County Judge Joe Shuster said in a statement. “We are not resting on our legacy of leadership in oil and gas. We welcome solar as the next new component in our portfolio of energy resources.”

The Barilla plant won’t be the biggest solar plant in Texas. Operations near San Antonio and Austin will generate more megawatts of energy than the Pecos County operation. Still, it does signal an opportunity to invest in yet another seemingly limitless energy resource that can heat homes in the winter, cool them in the summer — and do all of that without burning up the state’s finite amount of fossil fuel resources.

Let the sun shine, indeed.