Texas, the ninth-ranked U.S. state for levels of sunlight that could be converted to solar energy, runs the risk of economically lagging behind other states if it does not capitalize on the renewable source, according to a published report.

The Lone Star State ranks 16th for amount of generated solar energy per installed supplies, according to the Dallas News. The top-ranked state, California, hosts the world's largest solar thermal power plant and is seeing lots of investments dollars from Texas' second-largest generator of power, NRG Energy. Panda Power Funds of Dallas is developing one of the U.S.' largest solar power plants in the state ranked second: New Jersey.

"It's really a shame in Texas," Panda's managing director of development Ralph Killian told the Dallas News. "We've got good sunlight. It's really a shame that we don't have a more aggressive solar program."

Solar producers blame state leaders for failing to establish incentives to attract companies and industry representatives to Texas. But they are looking forward to January's new legislative session to work on establishing those incentives.

"We could lose out to China or New Jersey, or, if we make some modest investments now, Texas could be the center of solar production for the rest of the century," Luke Metzger, director of Environment Texas, told the newspaper.