This session, renewable energy advocates are bracing to defend critical policies that have helped Texas become the leading wind-power state. The discussions include a renewable energy mandate and a key tax incentive.

Ten years ago, the renewable energy industry basked in political popularity. With the rise of the Tea Party, it is now under fire. Clean energy advocates will spend part of the legislative session fending off attacks. But they also have some big dreams.

At the Trib's April 13 energy symposium at the University of Houston, I talked with state Rep. Jim Keffer, R-Eastland, the House Energy Resources Committee chairman, and state Rep. Mark Strama, D-Austin, a committee member.

As part of our day-long symposium on energy and the environment at the University of Houston on April 13, the Trib's Kate Galbraith led a discussion on clean and renewable energy.

The amount of Texas electrical power produced by coal plunged in January compared with a year earlier, and cheap natural gas appears to be the cause. Wind power production, meanwhile, has soared.

Aaronson interactively charts the legal wrangling between Texas and the feds, Aguilar on what Obama's budget means for the border, Galbraith on congressional ambivalence about a wind tax credit, Grissom on cuts to crime victims services, Hamilton on UT-Austin's plan to boost graduation rates, Ramsey on our woefully low voter turnout, Ramshaw on a new Super PAC targeting incumbents of both parties, Root on conservative opposition to the Keystone pipeline and M. Smith on cash-starved school districts in the advertising game: The best of our best content from February 13-17, 2012.

Ramshaw and Root on the debate that dominated the nation's political news, Tan and Ramshaw on how it will affect Rick Perry's campaign, Philpott on what "oops" might mean for Perry in South Carolina, Root on what it means in Iowa, Dehn with the latest Weekend Insider video, Galbraith on the split fates of water-related constitutional amendments, Grissom on an arrest in a 1986 murder case, Hamilton on UT-Arlington's efforts to control tuition costs and M. Smith, Murphy and Gerdau on West Texas schools raising money with wind farms: The best of our best content from November 7 to 11, 2011.

In this edition of the Texas Tribune Weekend Insider, reporter Julian Aguilar explains the challenges and temptations facing business owners on the border. And reporter Morgan Smith takes us to West Texas, where school districts have benefited from the wind energy boom.

A windmill company based in San Angelo has been making windmills since 1888 — and the family of Panhandle windmiller Mike Crowell has been in the business of fixing the machines nearly as long.

Windmilling — the art of fixing old water windmills — is difficult and dangerous work, and now it faces competition from solar pumps. But long-time windmillers in the Panhandle wouldn't trade their job for any other.

Hamilton on efforts to boost faculty productivity, Grissom on newly uncovered evidence in an old murder case, Galbraith on a wind-powered construction boom, Dehn unfurls the new Texas Tribune Weekend Insider, Aguilar on this year's record number of deportations, Ramshaw and Tan on budget cuts and cervical cancer screenings, M. Smith on local control over student grades, Root and Ramshaw on Rick Perry's latest debate performance, Philpott on an issue that didn't get its due in that debate and Titus and Murphy on fundraising and spending in congressional races: The best of our best content from October 17 to 21, 2011.

Workers are stringing thousands of miles of wires across Texas to aid the wind-power boom, despite lingering controversy — and an estimated cost of $6.8 billion. West Texas businesses have found a niche providing for  workers.

The chairwoman of the Public Utility Commission on how close Texas came to rolling blackouts this summer, what consumers can expect to pay as wind-power transmission expands, and how the historic drought affects the reliability of the power grid. 

We'll be liveblogging throughout the weekend from the Texas Tribune Festival's energy and environment track — which includes panels on the coming crisis over water, big oil and national security, and whether green energy is an oxymoron.

Gov. Rick Perry often emphasizes that he favors diversification of energy sources — and the record mostly bears him out. Wind farms and gas drilling have proliferated under his tenure, and he has tried to make building coal plants easier.

As the scorching summer days march on, so does the fear of blackouts.

As scorching temperatures continued and Texas electricity use reached another all-time high, the state grid operator initiated the first step of emergency procedures today, seeking power from other grids, including Mexico.

Forests of enormous electric wind turbines now rise across West Texas — a far cry from the smaller, water-pumping windmills that covered the land a century ago. In Lubbock, a museum called the American Wind Power Center traces this change, juxtaposing old and new.