What does it take to keep a preeminent, 40-year-old solar nonprofit thriving during a pandemic, extreme weather conditions and intransigent decision makers? For the past three years, Patrice ‘Pete’ Parsons has been at the helm of TXSES, carrying out the organization’s mission to educate and inspire every Texan to adopt solar energy as part of an equitable 100% clean energy future. Keeping the organization growing requires exemplary leadership and vision.
“My professional career in clean energy has prepared me for this assignment,” said Parsons. “Technologies have advanced. Consumer awareness has never been higher; demand has never been stronger. Climate change is no longer a speculation. My work at TXSES feels more urgent than ever.”
We sat down with Pete for an in-depth conversation about where TXSES has been and where it’s going.
TXSES: It’s been three years since you took over at TXSES. Where has the time gone? Your career has included work in the public, private and NGO sectors. Did that prepare you for a 40-year-old statewide solar nonprofit with regional chapters in five major metropolitan Texas cities?
PP: I’ve had a rewarding, inspiring professional career in clean energy which started back when Ann Richards was governor. I was at the General Services Commission (GSC) at the time and tasked with implementing her executive order directing all state agencies to recycle and buy recycled paper. I also worked on re-writing the Architectural and Engineering (A&E) Guidelines for state construction which included recycled building materials. I was fortunate to work on the state’s very first wind project in the Davis Mountains that would provide power to all state buildings in Austin.
After GSC, I took over the Governor’s Energy Office which I renamed to SECO, the current State Energy Conservation Office. I was focused on exploring how renewables could make an economic and environmental impact on the state. From there, I worked for the General Land Office (GLO) and Land Commissioner Garry Mauro which included representing him on President Clinton’s National Alternative Fuels Task Force and the EPA Clean Air Advisory Committee. It was a ton of fun!
TXSES: Feels like we’re only halfway to present day!
PP: After the GLO, I worked for HARC (Houston Advanced Research Center) where I started a Fuel Cell Research Center. I assembled a team of privately held companies to fund research on PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cells for stationary applications. From HARC, I went to ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability as its South-Central Director to help 50 cities implement climate action, sustainability and resiliency plans. It was exciting but exhausting! That’s when Ann Hamilton, formerly with the Houston Endowment and current TXSES board member, told me about the ED opportunity with TXSES. In addition to my interest in seeing how I can make a difference in the solar arena, returning to Austin felt like the right move so I could be closer to my mom, my children and my grandchildren. So to answer the question: did my previous work prepare me for TXSES? Absolutely. So much has happened over the past 30 years. Technologies have advanced. Consumer awareness has never been higher; demand has never been stronger. Climate change is no longer a speculation. My work at TXSES feels more urgent than ever. We have no time to waste.
Pete Parsons at HARC meeting, ca 2000
TXSES: So tell us what TXSES is focusing on these days.
PP: With all that’s happening in the clean energy space, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. To respond to consumer demand for solar, we see strategic distributed solar opportunities for a more resilient grid with rooftop and community solar. There’s no drop in consumer demand; in fact, our installers tell us they need workers! In response, we jumped in to help. For the past 18 months, we’ve been focused on building an educated, quality-trained diverse solar workforce for low-income populations; we’re pleased with our progress.
TXSES: Who else is TXSES targeting with education and training?
PP: Thanks to marketing support from the Texas Electric Cooperative, we’ll be holding training for Texas rural electric coops with experts from industry, national labs, and consultants who will share their experience and knowledge about technical opportunities and challenges, funding, state and national examples of community solar, residential and commercial solar programs, how to value solar. We hosted two of these workshops for New Braunfels Utility (NBU) earlier this year which were wildly received. According to NBU, these workshops provided a wealth of information that increased its understanding of and confidence in implementing initiatives that are new to many coops.
TXSES: TXSES was involved in last year’s effort to educate homeowners in the Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC) service territory. How did that go?
PP: There’s good news and not-so-good news. Working with other stakeholders, we focused on organizational change at the PEC to diversify its leadership and promote clean energy programs. Our efforts included leadership diversity, a vigorous public awareness campaign for solar in PEC’s service territory and a value of solar study to quantify the costs and benefits of each solar owner’s array to PEC’s system.
We hosted several town halls to educate PEC homeowners about proposed changes to PEC’s rates for solar generation. Despite our efforts, PEC prevailed its bid to implement anti-solar policies that affect current solar homeowners and potential solar homeowners. As the largest rural electric coop in Texas AND the US, PEC’s actions are especially concerning. That said, we’re not deterred. In fact, it only fires us up to ramp up our consumer awareness efforts so PEC homeowners have fact-based information to make decisions that will impact their lives and ours as well.
TXSES: The recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has substantial funding opportunities for states. In fact, we’ve not seen such a tranche of federal money for energy initiatives since ARRA (American Recovery & Reinvestment Act). What are your thoughts about this?
TXSES: It is the most significant climate legislation in US history. Modeling finds IRA’s $370B in climate and clean energy could help cut US greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions up to 43% BELOW 2005 levels by 2030…just seven years away! Reports of job growth exceed one million new jobs, affirming our work to educate and train a quality, diverse solar workforce. To capitalize on those federal dollars, Texas must pass bold clean energy targets. But with actions like appointees to the quasi-secretive State Energy Advisory Plan Committee by the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker, opportunities to realize those bold clean energy targets will be a challenge.
But the opportunities are huge. The State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) will have its hands full administering those dollars. While fossil fuels do benefit from this bill, clean energy resources like solar, wind and efficiency are the real beneficiaries of IRA. One of the really big wins: the 30% federal tax credit for rooftop solar installations now has a 10-year extension! Other consumer tax credits include energy-efficient windows, doors, electric water heaters, furnaces, electric vehicles (EV) and EV recharging equipment. Just a couple of weeks ago, SEG Solar announced it will build a 2 GW capacity solar module manufacturing plant in Houston. Construction is expected to begin at the end of this year and be operational by mid-2023. And while this was in the works before IRA, I think we’ll see more solar manufacturing facilities pop up all across the US, thanks to the IRA.
TXSES: Another reason to make sure we’ve got a strong solar workforce! But…what about the delays in permitting? This has been publicized a lot lately.
PP: Bret Biggart, Freedom Solar (and TXSES Platinum Business Member) wrote about this very issue in a recent issue of Texas Monthly. If Texas consumers want to go solar and help relieve pressure on the grid, why make it so difficult? It’s not that difficult a process, and certainly not helping consumers have a favorable view of their utility. But there’s a great tool to help alleviate this issue. Solar App+ software developed by NREL is a free online tool that completely automates the permitting process, shaving five to 10 days off the process. Solar App+ is projected to add solar to 2.4 million homes and 30,000 jobs across the US. We’re working to raise awareness of Solar App+ by Texas local governments and coops so they can deploy it.
TXSES: This was one of the hottest summers on record. We’ve not seen final numbers for August or September but 2022 ranks as one of, if not the hottest summers on record, and the likelihood that this kind of weather pattern is now the norm. How do you see TXSES responding to this over the next five years?
PP: It’s not just summer temperatures that are extreme. Remember Winter Storm Uri in February 2021? This is everyone’s conversation today. What do we do? Where do we go? How do we pivot and adjust to this new existence? Our collective response must be thoughtful, smart, common sense. We formed a policy committee for our business members to ensure we know first-hand what issues are impacting the industry. Five years is just two legislative sessions. In fact, we’re gearing up for the 86th legislative session in January which is safe to assume will have a significant energy focus. We’ll be busy doing what we do best: educating decision-makers and individuals with fact-based information about the value and benefits of solar. We can no longer limp along with an antiquated, volatile electric grid and policies that support the status quo while consumer demand for solar is off the charts. At TXSES, we’re not standing idly by, hoping our decision-makers boldly confront the issues of climate change, drought, extreme heat and cold temperatures. Consumer demand drives policies. We’re deeply committed to our decades-old work to make sure all Texans are educated about solar.