$15 million for solar in San Antonio, with a local twist

Share

CPS Energy services 820,000 electricity customers in and around San Antonio. The utility’s New Energy Economy (NEE) program aims to bring it to 20% renewable energy, and that it has a “commitment” – but no date noted – to 65% of its electricity being low or no carbon.

Starting November 30, CPS Energy updated its solar power incentive with a $15 million allocation. There is $14 million allocated to the residential sector, with the first $9 million being a flat rebate at $2500 per project, and the second $5 million being $1,500 per project. There is a $500 bonus for using locally produced solar modules. The commercial incentive gets $1 million and will pay 60¢ per watt, plus an additional 10¢ per watt for using local solar modules.

Also noted is that rebates would be cut to 75% of the total for projects built by non-local installation companies.

As reported by local Tony Quesada, the residential rebates are significantly lower than prior. The most recent rate was 60¢ per watt, without the limit set at $25,000 a project versus $2,500 a project. The locally sourced module incentive of 10¢ per watt was still in place. The utility noted that rebates at one point were $3 per watt, and that they were hoping to stretch the rebate budget to 6,200 projects.

The San Antonio Solar Alliance, led by Ben Rodriquez, suggested a different model that cut the cap for residential over time, from $8,000 in 2019, $6,000 in 2020 and $4,000 in 2021. And for the cap for commercial projects to be reduced to $15,000 in 2019, $12,000 in 2020 and $10,000 in 2021.

As the incentive does offer a bonus for ‘locally-produced’ solar modules, pv magazine is bringing you a partial list of products that are currently being manufactured and might meet the utility’s requirement:

  • Mission Solar – San Antonio based (super local).
  • CertainTeed – Building material manufacturer that makes building integrated solar module manufacturer.
  • ITEK – Washington State based manufacturer that recently expanded.
  • Solaria – High efficiency shingle solar module manfuacturer from California
  • SunPower – Industry leader manufacturer based out of California
  • SolarTech Universal – High efficiency modules built in Riviera Beach, Florida
  • Heliene – High efficiency modules built in Minnesota
  • CSUN – A California factory for commercial solar modules from an international company.

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.