San Antonio Records Record Growth in Solar Capacity
In 2018, solar energy capacity in San Antonio grew to a combined capacity of 186.9 megawatts and the Alamo City is now ranked seventh highest in the United States and number one in Texas, according to a report from Environment Texas Research and Policy Center.
San Antonio is home to seven facilities that participate in CPS Energy‘s Solar Host program, which provides a bill credit based on solar output. CPS Energy announced an additional $15 million for their solar rebate program in December 2018. Since that announcement, the company has continued to see growth in commercial and residential customers applying to participate.
The report shows that solar capacity in San Antonio grew from 161 megawatts (MW) in 2017 to 186.9 MW in 2018. The utility says this increase speaks to interest in solar energy by their customers. The pace of solar activity remains strong, and at the end of 2018, CPS Energy reported 13,680 total customer-owned solar systems were installed since launching their solar rebate program in 2007. This represents $129 million in both residential and commercial rebates. Beyond city limits, CPS Energy has a total of 673 MW of solar capacity.
Increasing renewable energy resources is a key component to the utility’s diversified energy generation portfolio. Renewables combined with new innovative technologies are a major driver in the utility’s Flexible Path initiative, which aims to decrease coal and natural gas generation and increase environmentally-friendly renewable generation in the upcoming decades.
In October 2018, CPS Energy broke ground on its first solar energy and battery storage project in Texas. The site will consist of a 5 megawatt (MW) solar power facility and a 10 MW battery storage system.
Source: energymanagertoday
