Solar

What Is Solar?

Solar power is energy from the sun harnessed into electricity or heat using technology such as solar panels. Because the sun is the “fuel” source, solar energy is inexhaustible. It uses little to no water, is pollution free, and has many uses. Solar has the technical potential to power 100 percent of the Lone Star state’s energy needs, but Texas lags behind several states in taking advantage of this resource. Though use of solar power has grown significantly in Texas recently, state leaders must do more unlock the many benefits greater solar use can bring.

Solar Technologies

Solar energy can be harnessed using active or passive technology. Active technologies are what most people associate with harvesting solar power. They include solar panels (aka, PV), solar water heating, and concentrated solar technologies. Passive technologies include the orientation and/or architecture of a building. For example, a house built with large windows facing the sun and floors made from heat-absorbent materials can help heat a house during wintertime.

PV is the most common active technology used to harness solar power. Solar panels contain semiconductor materials (like silicon) which, when exposed to sunlight, free electrons and become electricity. PV cells are typically made from crystalline silicon or thin-film semiconductor material. Both types have similar benefits but which one is the better choice depends on geographic and project specifics. Since the introduction of solar panels, both crystalline-silicon and thin-film technology efficiency have increased tremendously, while manufacturing and installation costs have decreased dramatically.

Rapid advances in solar technology means that there are more creative and dynamic ways of harnessing the sun’s power, including heating and cooling spaces. Most of these other examples are used in large-scale applications that electric utilities or large industries use.

Solar panels, though, can be used in many applications, from home rooftops to big box stores to community solar farms to large utility-scale arrays.

Solar trackers: maximize performance by moving PV panels to follow the path of the sun.
Concentrator photovoltaics (CPV): these photovoltaics utilize mirrors and curved lenses to concentrate sunlight onto small solar cells. This increases efficiency but are best suited only in places with great amounts of direct sunlight, like arid West Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California.

Concentrated solar power (CSP) or solar thermal collectors: these systems, like CPV, utilize mirrors and curved lenses to concentrate sunlight. But unlike CPV, CSP concentrates thermal energy to heat water, or other types of fluids, which are then used to create steam that drives a generator to create electricity.

For more on what differentiates utility-scale and small-scale solar, check this out.

How Much Solar Does Texas Have?

Texas has incredible solar power resources, but it still represents a small fraction of our energy portfolio. As of September 2015, among all states Texas ranked #10 in solar energy production and #1 in solar energy potential. To date, there are approximately 400 megawatts of large-scale solar online in Texas, and another 500 megawatts of large-scale solar under construction (a megawatt is about the amount of power needed to run a big box store). There are an additional 140 megawatts of solar on commercial, municipal, and residential rooftops in Texas.

This only the beginning.

Our state electric grid operator projects that by 2030, even if our state leaders do nothing, solar could reach 20,000 megawatts in Texas (about 15 percent of all electric power). If state, utility, and municipal leaders adopt supportive solar policies, projections indicate it could be as much as 40,000 megawatts, or about 30 percent of our energy use by 2030.

Though there is a lot of room to grow, solar has already added to Texas’ economy. Texas ranked sixth in the country for solar industry employment, with more than 7,000 solar jobs at the end of 2015. As more solar technologycomes online, this number will grow.

So Why Isn’t Texas #1?

These solar projections point to an exciting future, but not everyone in Texas is on board with the prospect of the Lone Star state having a robust solar portfolio. While the cost of solar technology has fallen rapidly, making it competitive with fossil fuels, the transition to renewables means we can rely less on traditional dirty fossil fuels, and the current politicization of our climate disruption reality has made that transition increasingly difficult. The fossil fuel industry has lobbied, bankrolled election campaigns, and used their large public profile to make influential but misleading public statements to quash much of the proposed legislation to boost the solar industry. In addition, it is only in the last four or five years, that solar prices have come down sufficiently to compete directly with these same fossil fuel resources, which have enjoyed decades of state and federal support.

In fact, fossil fuel and related interests contributed $12.2 million in Political Action Committee funds to legislative campaigns last election cycle according to a recent Texans for Public Justice report, making our state leadership beholden to them despite wide support for clean energy solutions. In fact, these energy company contributions represented the second largest business interest to contribute to candidates running for statewide office, coming in just behind Real Estate interests.

Can There Be Too Much Of A Good Thing?

Does solar power have a downside? Criticisms of solar power vary but there are solutions to legitimate concerns.

What about grid stability when the sun isn’t shining? There’s a long way to go before this is even an issue, but energy storage technology can greatly increase the adoption of solar power for when the sun doesn't shine. And in Texas’ energy-only grid, other energy producers like wind can rev up when solar power goes quiet at night.

Utilities cannot integrate so many new sources of power. The old utility model was pretty simple, with a few large power plants providing most of the electricity homes and businesses need. Solar power installations can range from large to small and there can be many thousands of them a utility has to manage. Sophisticated scheduling and dispatch systems are already being used around the country to coordinate operations. In Texas, our electric grid operator (ERCOT) has already approved new solar predictive technology to help integrate the sun. Having many more sources of electricity is also good because utilities don’t have to worry as much if a big power plant goes down unexpectedly.

Solar panels are ugly, and large arrays ruin pristine areas. While the visual appeal of solar technologies is a matter of individual aesthetics, there’s no question that some of the best solar potential is in areas where there is little development. All development, whether it be a massive wind farm, solar array, or high-speed rail system, should be planned to minimize impact on the environment as well as historically marginalized communities. Consider also the role renewable energy plays in taking old dirty fossil fuel power offline. Coal plants, old natural gas facilities, negatively affect the environment and public health in so many other ways and it is a net gain for the environment and communities to transition to renewables. Careful siting of large-scale utility projects to avoid disrupting sensitive ecologies, water features, or habitats, as well as siting on rooftops, abandoned areas, or as shade structures on existing development (like parking lots) are ways to help mitigate these concerns.

Where Can Solar Go From Here?

Beyond the very real political reality that prevents the adoption of effective statewide policies, solar power in Texas has still found ways to flourish. In addition to forward-thinking cities and utilities, economic and technological forces have contributed to solar’s growth in Texas. In the absence of state policy support, utilities are still expected to invest more in solar power and solar power integrated with energy storage systems is expected to grow.

Solar technology’s upfront costs had been a deterrent for many years. When Texas adopted a Renewable Portfolio Standard in 1999, wind energy fulfilled most of the goal because it was more cost-effective to build at the time. In fact, because of the huge boom in wind development, the state has already met the 2015 and 2025 goals and targets for renewable energy that were last revised in 2005. However, now that solar technology’s costs have dropped so much, many utilities, businesses, and homeowners are investing in solar because it is so affordable.

For example, CPS Energy and Austin Energy, two of the largest public utilities in Texas, have purchased, built, or committed to develop approximately 1,500 megawatts of solar power. In Texas’ investor-owned utility areas, even private merchant solar plants have begun to pop up, which compete directly with non-renewable resources in the energy marketplace.

A key piece of the puzzle to fulfilling solar’s potential in Texas is energy storage. While energy storage is not required to make solar power work, adding energy storage to our grid just makes an even greater economic case for solar. Many companies are racing to optimize batteries and other storage methods to ensure electricity generated from solar can be delivered on demand, even when the sun isn’t shining. The energy storage market is still relatively small but growing fast, as costs come down and more integrated solar-plus-storage projects come online and prove their reliability and value. In fact, Austin Energy recently approved its first community solar project in East Austin, which will combine a solar farm with batteries. Pedernales Electric Cooperative began a loan program for its customers that allows solar PV systems with batteries included.

Off The Shelf Policy Solutions

There are still many things our state leaders can do to support solar. However, in Texas, the biggest policy support for solar comes not from the state legislature, but from the federal government through the solar investment tax credit, a 30 percent tax credit made available to residential, commercial and utility-scale solar projects. This credit can go towards the manufacturing and installation of solar equipment.

While a state-level incentive does not exist, some local utilities such as Austin Energy, San Antonio’s CPS Energy and Denton Municipal Electric have set up rebate programs “that reimburse customers for a portion of the cost of installing panels directly on their roofs.” They also have been leaders in investing in large-scale solar power plants, which has helped businesses invest more in solar in Texas.

Private sector program innovation is also enabling more people to benefit from solar. One company in San Antonio, Advanced Solar, offers special rebates exclusively to CPS Energy customers that live in low-income districts or in homes valued at $100,000 or less. According to data collected from February 2009 to January 2016, CPS Energy gave higher income districts nearly quadruple the amount of rebates given to those in lower income districts. With rebates exclusively for those less likely to be able to afford rooftop systems, Advanced Solar is supporting a more inclusive and equitable solar market!

Community solar is a concept gaining momentum. These projects place solar energy systems on public or jointly-owned land and are paid for by several community members who then receive solar energy and its benefits. Community solar opens the benefits of solar to more people, such as renters and people who can't afford the upfront costs of solar panels, and those who have homes with inadequate roof space. Community solar is a great way for those who could not otherwise have solar power to access this source of clean, renewable energy at a lower cost. “Under community solar programs, homeowners in single-family dwellings can purchase individual solar panels and receive credits on their monthly light bills based on production.” Among utilities that have recently announced community solar projects include Bandera Electric Cooperative, Nueces Electric Cooperative, CPS Energy, and Austin Energy. Others, including Pedernales Electric Cooperative, are in the process of developing community solar projects.

Net-metering is another policy that would support solar development. “Net-metering allows residential solar customers to earn full retail credit for excess electricity that they sell back to the grid.” Only a handful of utilities in the Lone Star state have a net-metering policy. To date there is no statewide requirement to offer net-metering. Opponents have argued against requiring a buyback rate, an essential to fair net-metering policy, because they say it puts a burden on “electric providers by requiring them to put technical and administrative systems in place in order to buy back surplus electricity.”

Complicating efforts to adopt net-metering policies in Texas are the myriad private retail electric providers, vertically-integrated private investor companies outside of ERCOT, and public entities like municipal utilities and more rural electric cooperatives. In addition, Texas would have to further address interconnection policies, which guide how customers can “plug” their renewable energy back into the grid, would have to be addressed if Texas ever adopts a statewide net metering policy. A 2016 “Freeing the Grid” report from Vote Solar and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council gave Texas a “D” grade on its interconnection policies. It chided the state for requiring “redundant external disconnect switches and additional insurance that can drive up customer costs.”

In lieu of net metering, some utilities have developed their own method of crediting homes and businesses that put solar on their rooftops. Generally dubbed “Value of Solar”, these programs attempt to both charge the customer one rate for the overall production of their solar system since the utility still has to have the wires and infrastructure to serve these systems, but then credit customers for all of the production of the system at an agreed to “value.” This system -- currently used by Austin Energy - tries to make sure both the utility and the customer benefit.

Another policy change currently being debated would create a new class of energy producers known as “Distributed Energy Resources” who could directly participate in ERCOT’s energy market. Under this proposal from some stakeholders, smaller distributed generators including onsite solar PV systems, could directly “bid” their energy into the market and be paid by ERCOT just as any larger generator would.

Another local policy that supports solar is Property-Assessed Clean Energy financing (or PACE). PACE allows home and business owners to pay for the upfront costs of an onsite renewable energy system and/or energy efficiency project with loans generally provided by a third-party private bank or financial company, but administered through an agreement with the city or county. These costs are recuperated “through a multiyear assessment as part of the property tax bill of the improved property. Property owners may borrow money for the improvements and repay the money through a voluntary special assessment secured by a lien against the property.” This multi-year assessment continues as a lien on the property until the entire debt is paid, even if the property changes ownership. In Texas, many of the most populous cities -- including Houston, Dallas, Austin, and El Paso -- have already begun PACE programs (some counties too), although thus far they have been limited to commercial applications.

A similar program to PACE is WHEEL - or Warehouse for Energy Efficiency Loans -- which allows smaller residential low-interest renewable and energy efficiency loans to be sponsored by states, local governments, and utilities. WHEEL is designed to simply and effectively deliver nearly unlimited capital at lower costs to energy efficiency and renewable energy programs. Most importantly, it is designed to create a loan program that can ultimately be sustained without additional sponsor subsidy. Texas does not currently participate in this highly successful program, but could do so either through legislative action or rules developed by a state agency with lending capability such as the State Energy Conservation Office (SECO).

The Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) has become a very popular way for utilities and large companies to acquire solar power. PPAs are financial agreements (contracts) between a developer and a utility or company wanting to purchase solar power. The developer (usually) manages the investment, design, construction, and operation of a solar energy system and sells the power to the contracted buyer (usually at a fixed-rate, often for 20 years or more). Ideally, the consumer ends up paying below market rates for electricity, and the owner and financiers see a reasonable return on investment.” The developer receives payments and is able to take advantage of the “tax credits and other incentives generated from the system.”

Building codes can aid the proliferation of solar power too. Houston was the first city to adopt “solar-ready” provisions in their building codes in Texas. Solar-ready” building structures means that all new buildings are built with the right conditions to add solar technology and to increase energy efficiency. These conditions include things like proper wiring for future solar panel installation, south-facing roofs that take advantage of more sunlight, and landscaping that avoids shade on roofs.