By Patrice “Pete” Parsons, TXSES Executive Director
We are saying goodbye to a very busy, yet successful 2024, and are just as energized by the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead in 2025. There is plenty to tackle. Although in many ways, last year marked some significant milestones for solar energy in Texas, with record-setting demand and installations (although mostly utility-scale), we recognize that maintaining this momentum is critical. There are forces in the Texas Legislature that would like to make it harder for solar to thrive, threatening grid reliability and increasing costs both for large- and small-scale solar.
With the 89th Legislative Session beginning on January 14th, TXSES’s focus in 2025 will be on educating legislators, and tracking, supporting (or opposing) solar-related bills already filed this session. We are also helping develop language on legislation not yet submitted.
To this end, we will continue working with legislators, other organizations, and stakeholders, as well as our Business Members, who have been diligently collaborating on TXSES Steering Committees created this year for this purpose.
Bills We Are Tracking
CONSUMER PROTECTION
HB 1640 (VanDeaver): Transparency and creation of a best practices guide for rooftop solar systems for homes. We will be supporting this bill.
SB 1036 (Zaffirini): Relating to the regulation of residential solar retail transactions; requiring an occupational registration; authorizing fees; providing civil and administrative penalties. We were helping with the language on this bill, which will affect the relationships between solar salesman, installations and consumer protection. Sen. Zaffirini’s office says that this will be the most important piece of legislation for her in this next session. I have been working with installers, AARP, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations and the Texas Solar Storage Association (formally Texas Solar Power Association) on the language. We think this will be a great bill if passed and will provide help to the industry at large.
Senator Zaffirini: Solar Financing (to be submitted): The Senator’s other piece of distributed solar legislation is focusing on the financing aspect of purchasing solar through lenders. This bill was a piece of legislation she introduced in the last session that received push-back from lenders. It also protects consumers who must begin paying on their loans before their installations start performing. We are working closely with the Senator’s office to be sure that consumers get the protection they need, but at the same time does not cause harm to the ethical body of installers in the state. Most installers fall into the latter category. We think this will be a great bill if passed and will provide help to the industry at large.
SOLAR-READY REQUIREMENTS
HB407 (Morales): Relating to solar compatibility for residential construction and making it a criminal offense to make fraudulent representations when making a solar sale. Also relates to municipal and county requirements for solar energy and device compatibility for certain residential construction. We will be supporting this bill.
TAXES
SB419 (Meza): Relating to the determination of the market value of solar energy property for ad valorem tax purposes (adding ad valorum taxes to homeowners for their solar installations.) We will be opposing this bill.
HOAs
HB431 (Cortez): Relating to the regulation by a property owners’ association of the installation of solar roof tiles. (HOAs, allows for solar homeowners to use solar shingles on their roofs instead of traditional panels. We will be supporting this bill.
NET METERING
HB 912 (Moody): Relating to the compensation of a distributed renewable generation owner in certain areas outside of ERCOT. This does away with net metering in El Paso. We will be opposing this bill.
SOLAR IN SCHOOLS AND CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
SB 799 (Menendez): Directs TCEQ to provide “assistance to public school districts to submit applications for federal and state funding for the installation and purchase of electric school buses and solar panels in public schools.” We will be supporting this bill.
Texas Backup Power Package (Johnson): Passed last session, but needs $1.8 billion appropriated still for backup power at nursing homes, hospitals, and other critical facilities. Must be capable of operating for at least 48 continuous hours, not more than 2.5 megawatts of load provides power sourced from: (A) a combination of natural gas or propane with photovoltaic panels and battery storage; or (B) battery storage on an electric school bus. We will be supporting this.
REGULATIONS ON UTILITY-SCALE SOLAR, WIND AND BATTERIES
SB 819 (Kolkhorst), HB 553 (Patterson): Relating to the permitting of renewable energy generation facilities by the Public Utility Commission of Texas; authorizing fees. It requires operators to obtain a permit from the PUC before construction or operation. It mandates setbacks, environmental impact assessments by TPWD, public notice, and hearings. It also creates a cleanup fund for facility removal. It will also will end use of Ch. 312 agreements. We will be opposing this bill.
As written currently, the bill will require anyone who wants to go solar, or already has solar, to get a permit and to notify surrounding neighbors up to 25 miles away, in the event they want to take issue. We are working to make sure that small scale solar is not included in this bill.
Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS):
HB 1378 (Troxclair) – Requires a municipality or county to prohibit energy storage within 500 yards of real property.
HB 1343 (Virdell) – Establishes a permitting process for batteries. It requires operators to obtain a permit from the PUC before construction or operation as well as fire mitigation, location and public hearing requirements.
SB1212: Relating to the interconnection and integration of distributed energy resources and Aggregated Distributed Energy Resources (ADER), which concerns small scale storage. By Senators Nathan Johnson & Sarah Eckhardt. We will be supporting this bill.
PUC RULE
In addition to efforts at the Legislature, TXSES is also working with the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) to get a new utility interconnection rule created for distributed solar that will streamline the process and make it easier on the homeowner to get their solar turned on and begin receiving savings on electricity usage. This streamlined process not only helps the customer have access to their energy savings but will also eliminate some installer soft costs that can then be passed down to the consumer.