The Texas Solar Energy Society (TXSES) today announced the addition of Eco El Paso to its family of local chapters across the state.
“We are excited to welcome Eco El Paso as a new local TXSES chapter” said TXSES Executive Director Pete Parsons. “Under the leadership of Executive Director Shelby Ruff, Eco El Paso brings enormous depth of talent, experience and dedication to clean energy. They are deeply committed to helping TXSES carry out our mission as an independent, national not-for-profit organization committed to fact-based policy leadership, quality workforce development and consumer empowerment.”
A membership-based organization for more than four decades, TXSES has been the pre-eminent statewide organization exemplified in strong, well-established local chapters in Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and now El Paso. Having chapters in these major metropolitan cities, which represent nearly a quarter of Texas’s 29 million citizens, enables gifted, dedicated experts to disseminate quality, fact-based solar information and strategies that every Texas community can adopt.
“Eco El Paso is excited to be a Chapter of Texas Solar Energy Society since our mission and goals align in many ways, especially regarding solar energy, solar jobs and the many benefits solar provides to our region,” said Ruff. “Solar energy is a major part of the clean energy transition that provides high paying, local jobs. El Paso is one of the best cities for sunlight in the U.S. Our solar panels produce more power every day than the rest of Texas.”
“Adding another chapter like Eco El Paso increases our ability to reach more Texans on the importance of sound, favorable solar policies that will grow the industry, build healthy, resilient communities, support local well-paying jobs and lay the foundation for an equitable 100% clean energy Texas,” said TXSES Board Chair Katherine Searcy.
By Katherine Searcy, Chair, TXSES Board of Directors
The Texas Solar Energy Society’s mission is Equitable Access to Solar Energy for Every Texan. Green building enables the efficient use of solar energy by reducing the total energy needed for a home or business, which in turn reduces the size of the required solar photovoltaic system. In this way, green building is foundational to and interwoven with the widespread adoption of distributed solar. This issue of the Solar Reflector focuses on green building: the requirements for residential green building certification, accessory dwelling units, and solar home tours, both locally and nationally.
Green building encompasses not only energy efficiency and renewable energy, but also water efficiency, healthy materials, and regionally appropriate design. The nationally recognized green building rating system, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), provides a holistic framework to evaluate and incorporate these myriad components into a building’s design. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) administers the LEED program. Our first article, written by the Texas chapter of the USGBC, highlights the key requirements to obtain LEED certification for a home.
Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are small, secondary structures located on the same property as a primary dwelling. These charming structures can increase urban density and offer flexible living arrangements. In our second article, Alan Barley shares strategies for getting the most out of these small spaces and for ensuring they are as energy-efficient as conventionally sized homes.
Our final article highlights several green building home tours: our very own Cool House Tour, the American Solar Energy’s National Solar Tour, and the North Texas Renewable Energy Group’s (NTREG) DFW Solar Tour. The Texas Solar Energy Society is excited to share the 2020 Cool House Tour in a virtual format on Sunday September 27 from 2 to 4 pm. We hope you will join us!
The 2020 Tour marks the 24th year that TXSES has collaborated with Austin Energy Green Building. This year, we’ll highlight three distinct building types: a rural homestead, an urban accessory dwelling, and an affordable multifamily community. This lineup emphasizes that thoughtful design can deliver healthy, green homes for a variety of contexts and budgets. The virtual tour will include live discussions with the teams involved in each project; we hope that these conversations, along with the virtual tours, will retain the enjoyment and educational benefits of an in-person tour. The tour content will be available after the event day, enabling more people to experience and learn from the tour. There’s still time to register!!
The Cool House Tour is part of the National Solar Tour (nationalsolartour.org), which is coordinated by our parent organization, the American Solar Energy Society. The National Solar Tour will occur from September 28 through October 4. Homeowners and business owners across the country will share inspirational examples of solar integration and green building. Our chapter, NTREG, will hold their DFW Solar Tour virtually on October 3.
With all the uncertainty we are facing collectively, I find it reassuring to connect with the inspiring people and projects highlighted in this Solar Reflector. I hope that you, too, will find inspiration and useful, shareable ideas for your home, business, and community. As always, we’d love to hear your inspiring solar stories and your ideas for how TXSES can help improve equitable access to solar for every Texan. We look forward to hearing from you.
From the outset, I knew that 2020 would be a year of great change for TXSES. After more than a decade of service, our previous Executive Director, Lucy Stolzenburg, retired, and the organization welcomed Patrice “Pete” Parsons to the helm.
In February, the Board of Directors held a strategic planning retreat to steer the organization through the next three years. The Board has increasingly emphasized expanding our reach to a wider, more diverse Texas audience, and we are very excited to share our updated mission:
Equitable access to solar energy for every Texan.
We hope to educate and inspire every Texan to adopt solar energy as part of an equitable 100% clean energy future. With renewed enthusiasm, we kicked off the year with an intention to expand our online presence, our chapters, and our capacity. Little did we know just how much change 2020 had in store for us.
The coronavirus pandemic has upended our lives, businesses, and communities. Nationally, the solar industry lost thousands of jobs, particularly in the residential market. Despite these hardships, signs of life remain, and the industry may be showing early signs of recovery.
In the Austin area, I’ve heard that many solar businesses are weathering the storm, and Austin Energy continues to approve projects and conduct inspections at near pre-COVID pace.
In light of our current cultural strife, now more than ever, it’s important to support our communities by serving all of our neighbors; by providing relevant information through inclusive, welcoming environments; and by listening.
We are finding creative solutions and silver linings. We are adapting the Cool House Tour to a virtual format, rescheduled for September 27, 2020. Though we’re disappointed that we won’t get to see you in person at the Tour, we are excited that more people may be able to attend on the day of the event or afterward!
As part of our goal to reach more Texans, we intend to increase our online content, and the virtual Cool House Tour is one step in the right direction. Additionally, TXSES has expanded our outreach on social media. If you haven’t already, please follow and engage with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We also hope to expand our chapters to more cities across Texas this year.
We want to hear from you: how can we help your community, your business, and our state achieve an equitable 100% clean energy future? We can do this together.
By Hanna Mitchell, Program Director for Solar United Neighbors of Texas
While demand for solar is growing across Texas – and some Texas cities have recently doubled down on their investments, going solar may still feel out of reach for millions of Texans. And while the cost of solar has dropped dramatically in recent years, the typical profile of a solar owner is someone who owns their home and has upfront capital or decent credit.
For those who rent, move frequently, or own a home that is completely shaded or without contiguous roof space, community solar may be a worthwhile option to reap the benefits of local solar electricity without putting panels on your roof.
So what is community solar, anyway? Since the term is frequently misused, let’s start by clarifying what it’s not: community solar is not a “green purchase program,” which generally rely on the trade of Renewable Energy Credits and come at a premium. Community solar isn’t a bulk purchase program for homeowners.
Community solar, also known as shared solar, allows people who are enrolled in the project to get their electricity from a solar array that may be either on or offsite but is generally close to where people are using the electricity. For a deeper dive into community solar programs, check out this guide from Solar United Neighbors.
While Texas does not explicitly legislate community solar programs as you can find in sixteen other states, the complex nature of the Texas electricity market offers a patchwork of community solar options that complement rooftop solar and the potential for many more options to evolve.
Much of the community solar currently available in Texas is offered through municipal utilities and electric co-ops. Check with your local electricity provider(s) to see if community solar is currently available or will be in the future.
So to recap, community solar functions as a form of distributed generation that complements rooftop solar and is available in some parts of Texas. In practical terms, you may see several different models available that allow you to buy solar electricity from a shared array.
Under a subscription model, people may sign up to buy their electricity from the community solar array, ideally at a cost equal to or below the current rate they are paying for electricity. Under an ownership model, people or organizations may buy shares (e.g., in increments of kW) and receive a credit on their utility bill for the amount of money that their share in the project is producing. This is called virtual net metering.
Beyond local availability, there are some factors to think about when shopping for a community solar program. You may want to consider who owns and operates the project, which can determine how the benefits are shared with subscribers.
You will also want to review your monthly energy use, how much you pay for it and how much of your consumption you would like to offset, if that option exists. And finally, you will want to look over the terms of the contract so that you know the length of the agreement and payment schedule
Courtesy Solar United Neighbors
From a policy and development standpoint and although community solar has the potential to improve equitable access to solar, not all community solar programs are created equal. Whether or not the program is a good economic option for consumers, either in terms of lower rates or recouping expenses, is one factor. The ease of subscribing and unsubscribing is another consideration.
And as with any community-sited project, it is important to build stakeholder input in project planning and decision making – especially from those that the project is designed to serve so that there are real community benefits. For more information on project siting, check out this summary of recommendations or this guide to project development from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Expanding distributed generation and access to solar in Texas will take a multi-pronged approach. The good news is that community solar can be an avenue for growing more solar energy jobs, improving grid stability and offering an option for more Texans to go solar.
As Program Director for Solar United Neighbors of Texas, Hanna works to bring solar to more Texans. For the better part of a decade, she has organized for environmental and social change.
By Joshua D. Rhodes, Ph.D. , Research Associate, Webber Energy Group University of Texas/Austin
There is not much in this world that has not been touched by this pandemic. Most news feeds and social media streams seem to be about the same thing: COVID, COVID and more COVID. But then again, it has touched all aspects of our lives from how we eat, to how we meet and where we put up our feet. Its impact is also being felt in the solar industry.
A recent survey by the Global Solar Council of hundreds of solar companies in dozens of countries found that more than 70% of solar companies have experienced slowdowns and about 80% expect more slowdowns in the next four months. The main reasons include supply chain interruptions, labor issues and clients being more cautious. In some regions, rooftop PV was not seen to be an “essential service” and thus was stopped altogether.
Here at home, this is a particularly challenging time for solar deployments as we are in the middle of a phase out of the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) in 2021. The rules are different for large, utility-scale and residential projects.
For example, if a utility-scale project started construction in 2019, it can – as long as construction is complete by 2024 – claim the full 30% ITC. However, residential projects are given credits based on their completion date. If the slowdown pushes a homeowner’s installation from 2020 to 2021, they receive 4% less of a tax credit. If the project is pushed out to 2022, they get zero tax credit.
There has been some discussion at the federal level about tax credit extensions for renewable energy projects, but these are likely to be most helpful to wind, perhaps retroactive, and more focused on large scale projects.
Update: the US Treasury has extended the tax credit deadline for projects to 2021, which should give developers more time to complete their projects.
COVID19 has also impacted how we use electricity. Total electricity usage is down across most of the world, including the U.S., but it is not equal across all sectors.
Industrial and commercial usage is generally down, but residential usage is up and looking different. Lower overall electricity usage could drive down wholesale electricity market prices making it less attractive to build new power plants of any type. However, solar often being the lowest cost resource, might fare better.
All of our energy systems are interrelated and connected. You can’t talk about one without talking about the others as well. The current one-two punch in the global oil markets from COVID19-driven reduced demand (i.e., we’re not traveling) and the Saudi-Russia price war has driven down the price of oil to record lows. Prices have been low before, but this time is different.
Over the past decade, the U.S. has become a major oil producer again. As low prices impact the economy, U.S. firms feel the pain. Additionally, a major portion of our domestic natural gas production is associated with oil extraction.
If we stop extracting oil, the supply of natural gas could fall, raising its price. If the price of natural gas rises, this will push up the cost of electricity because we still get almost 40% of our electricity from natural gas.
That said, if electricity prices rise, solar’s low cost will make it look even better, but this also holds true for coal. While natural gas has done the lion’s share of killing coal, higher prices could slow its march.
Most people who can have been working from home, and this has changed how we are using electricity. Most companies have been forced to put in place the infrastructure to allow their employees to work from home, even if they were previously resistant to it.
It is yet to be determined how many people will continue to work from home as a result of COVID-19, but assuming more of us will, it will be instructive to watch electricity prices, consumption and solar trends.
Joshua D. Rhodes, Ph.D. is Research Associate, Webber Energy Group University of Texas/Austin, Founding Partner, IdeaSmiths LLC and TXSES Board Member
“We are excited to welcome Eco El Paso as a new local TXSES chapter” said TXSES Executive Director Pete Parsons. “Under the leadership of Executive Director Shelby Ruff, Eco El Paso brings enormous depth of talent, experience and dedication to clean energy. They are deeply committed to helping TXSES carry out our mission as an independent, national not-for-profit organization committed to fact-based policy leadership, quality workforce development and consumer empowerment.”
The Texas Solar Energy Society’s mission is Equitable Access to Solar Energy for Every Texan. Green building enables the efficient use of solar energy by reducing the total energy needed for a home or business, which in turn reduces the size of the required solar photovoltaic system. In this way, green building is foundational to and interwoven with the widespread adoption of distributed solar. This issue of the Solar Reflector focuses on green building: the requirements for residential green building certification, accessory dwelling units, and solar home tours, both locally and nationally.
