Penalizing Solar Homeowners Is Not Good Public Policy
By Howard ‘Scot’ Arey Potential anti-solar policies at the Pedernales Electric Coop (PEC) threaten to derail future distributed solar in PEC’s service territory, the rural electric cooperative that serves more meters than any other U.S. co-op. With a little less than eight weeks until sine die, May 31, 2021, the Texas legislature is still debating […]
Build San Antonio Green
BREAKING: Build San Antonio Green, our San Antonio TXSES chapter, receives the 2021 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy! Each year, EPA honors a group of businesses and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency […]
Solar Policy Update 87(R) Legislative Session
If it’s an odd-numbered year, the Texas legislature is in session. A confluence of clamor and mayhem with thousands of bills filed (more than 7,000 this session), each session has its own unique personality. Back in July 2020, State Comptroller Glen Hegar projected a $4.6 billion deficit by August 2021. But in January, Hegar reduced […]
A Texas-size Freeze on Texas Solar
By Joshua Rhodes, Ph.D With sunny days and afternoon temperatures pushing into the 80s, it is hard to believe that just over a month ago, Texas was in the grips of a historic freeze that broke both the natural gas and electricity systems and left millions of Texans shivering in the dark. If […]
Moving forward; not looking backward
I thought my first Solar Reflector article would focus on why I returned to TXSES. I felt an urgency to speak out against under-the-radar attacks on solar on the customer side of the meter; how we need to stop policy roadblocks that are under construction in Texas. That alone would have been a worthwhile goal. […]
Community Solar: a conversation with Jason Pittman, GoSmartSolar
How often do you wander into your boss’s office to resign and he ends up offering you something you really want to do? In Jason Pitman’s case, it was leading the clean energy and sustainability business line for a global consulting firm. Jason’s 18 years of clean energy experience ranges from large utility-scale systems and […]
TXSES Announces Meadows Foundation Grant
The Texas Solar Energy Society (TXSES) today announced it has received a $75,000 grant from the Texas-based Meadows Foundation. These funds will support TXSES’s mission to ensure equitable access to solar energy for every Texan. “We are so appreciative of the generous support from The Meadows Foundation,” said Patrice ‘Pete’ Parsons, TXSES Executive Director. “These […]
The Texas Blackout is a Man-Made Disaster of Epic Proportions
February 22, 2021 Excerpted from pvmagazine By David Brearley, TXSES Board Member As my wife and I melted snow this past week to flush the toilets in our 100-year-old East Austin home, located a short walking distance from the Texas State Capitol, it occurred to me more than once that the slope from pride […]
“The entire system was overwhelmed,” said TXSES Board Member, Joshua Rhodes
From Aljazeera News to the New York Times to the Christian Science Monitor, Joshua Rhodes, research fellow at the Webber Energy Group at the University of Texas at Austin, founding partner of IdeaSmiths LLC and esteemed TXSES board member, has been in the news a lot lately, sharing his insight and expertise on the Texas […]
TXSES Announces New Board Members and Officers
The Texas Solar Energy Society (TXSES) announced the election of six new members to its board of directors, as well as the full slate of officers. Joining TXSES’s board of directors are Howard ‘Scot’ Arey, owner of Solar CenTex; Dr. Ariane L. Beck, Research Fellow at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University […]