I&#x27;m not sure I&#x27;d describe it as an &quot;almost uncontrolled free market&quot;, probably something closer to a &quot;state-organized market&quot;. There are definitely market mechanisms at work in the Texas energy sector, but also quite a bit of central planning, especially on infrastructure, and especially with wind power. The state has been heavily involved in building out transmission lines to make wind turbine construction in remote areas more attractive, because building a wind turbine nowhere near major transmission lines is obviously not economical, and there are big  coordination and right-of-way problems getting all the people who hold land and might want to build turbines to figure out, purely in the private sector, how to get together to finance and build transmission lines.<p>The specific solution Texas has used is to create something called &quot;Competitive Renewable Energy Zones&quot; (CREZs), where the state identifies promising areas and invests heavily in infrastructure to try to jumpstart production, with a plan of recovering the infrastructure spending from tax on that production (once it materializes). About $7 billion in tax money has been spent on that project so far, so the central-planning part of the story isn&#x27;t exactly small change. Not sure where to link for a good overview, but this article has some information: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.texastribune.org&#x2F;2013&#x2F;10&#x2F;14&#x2F;7-billion-crez-project-nears-finish-aiding-wind-po&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.texastribune.org&#x2F;2013&#x2F;10&#x2F;14&#x2F;7-billion-crez-projec...</a>