Texas sun may soon heat up solar power

Oct 17 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Jack Z. Smith Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

The sun has yet to fully shine on the solar-power industry in Texas. The industry is still tiny, accounting for a fraction of 1 percent of the state's electric power generation.

But industry professionals and advocates of renewable energy say that Texas potentially could become the No. 1 generator of solar power in the U.S. within several years, thanks to its size, wide-open spaces, sunshine and a large, fast-growing population that will need more electricity.

The Lone Star State will be in the solar spotlight this week, with 24,000 industry professionals flocking to the Solar Power International conference today through Thursday at the Dallas Convention Center. About 1,200 companies will hawk solar products and services in 1.1 million square feet of exhibit space.

"People all over the world are eyeing Texas because of its potential in solar [power]," said Bob Walters, vice president of marketing for Fort Worth-based Entech Solar, which is developing a solar-powered skylight for "green" buildings and large solar panels that will require less silicon.

With costs for solar panels plunging and big new power transmission lines being built in West Texas, "we're getting ready to have a solar boom," said Michael Osborne, an official with Austin Energy, a municipal electric utility that expects to buy power from a new 30-megawatt solar farm east of Austin by year's end.

That facility would nearly double the state's minuscule solar-generation capacity of 37 megawatts. But CPS Energy of San Antonio, also a municipal utility, is thinking much bigger. It has solicited proposals for 400 megawatts of new solar generation, more than 10 times the capacity of the entire state.

CPS is evaluating a short list of the most attractive offers from companies willing to build a solar farm, or multiple farms, in exchange for CPS agreeing to buy the power, spokesman John Moreno said.

CPS gets power from the largest operating solar generation facility in Texas, the 14-megawatt Blue Wing Solar Project on 113 acres in southeast San Antonio. Its 214,500 solar photovoltaic panels can produce more than 26,570 megawatt-hours of electricity each year -- enough to power 1,800 households, CPS says.

The ambitious 400-megawatt solar expansion plan symbolizes "how quickly the industry is moving," said Tom Kimbis, vice president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, the chief industry trade group.

West Texas potential

Texas' solar ambitions aren't limited to municipal utilities.

Michael Gorton, CEO of Addison-based Principal Solar, said his 2-year-old company hopes within several years to begin building huge solar farms with hundreds of megawatts of capacity. Sun-drenched West Texas, with ample open space and cheap land, is prime territory for such projects, he said.

"We think Texas should be the solar-power leader for the country," Gorton said. "We're not now, but we're going to be."

Gorton said Principal -- whose board includes Dallas oilman Hunter Hunt, of the famous Hunt oil family -- is already acquiring solar-power generators that have a dependable revenue stream as a result of power-purchase agreements. It wants to build its own generation once solar costs achieve "grid parity," becoming cost-competitive with other forms of power generation, he said.

Kimbis said prices have plunged for solar panels, falling 30 percent since the start of 2010 as industry size and competition have increased. General Electric said Thursday that it will build a $300 million solar-panel factory, the largest in the U.S., in Aurora, Colo.

California is the leader in solar generation, but Texas has enormous solar-power potential because it is a huge electricity consumer and "receives more solar radiation than any state," Kimbis said.

"There's an immense amount of solar radiation hitting roofs all across the state -- sun shining on residential and commercial rooftops and distribution centers and warehouses," he said. Where there are roofs, there can be solar panels.

Solar-panel discounts

That's why Irving-based TXU Energy has teamed up with California-based SolarCity to offer a $1,000 discount for up to 5,000 new or current residential customers in Dallas-Fort Worth who want to install solar panels on their homes. Details are available at www.txu.com/solar.

SolarCity spokesman Jonathan Bass said that, as a result of solar-panel prices dropping, "we're now able to offer many Dallas-Fort Worth area homeowners the chance to prepay a 3-kilowatt system starting around $4,000 when the TXU incentive is included, which can equate to paying 6 cents per kilowatt-hour or less in some cases."

"That is essentially 30 to 50 percent less than many of our potential customers currently pay for electricity," Bass said.

Oncor Electric Delivery, the main transmission and distribution company for North Texas, offers solar rebates that have trimmed costs for 84 commercial, 54 government and 583 residential solar projects.

"We have a huge waiting list," Oncor spokeswoman Jeamy Molina said. Information is at www.takealoadofftexas.com.

The Tarrant Regional Water District's 26,000-square-foot Information Technology and Engineering annex in Fort Worth opened in 2009 with what was the largest roof-mounted, solar photovoltaic panel array in Texas -- a $1.47 million, 236-kilowatt system with 1,157 panels. It has cut electricity costs by 40 percent, saving $55,564, the district said.

The biggest rap on solar power has been its cost, although some critics also say its "green" benefits are overrated because of the land required for big solar farms. But with solar costs falling, Texas is "getting ready to have a solar boom, like we've had a wind boom," Osborne said in reference to Texas' No. 1 position in wind-power generation.

Solar power has become "big business," said Russel Smith, executive director of the Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association.

"This is an industry that can really help this state," he said. "Texas needs to get hold of it and really ride with it. ... We've done that with wind. There's no reason we can't do it with solar."

Online: www.solarpowerinternational.com

Jack Z. Smith, 817-390-7724

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