WASHINGTON, D.C. – July 13, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — CPS Energy in San Antonio, Texas, said it has chosen Clean Energy Collective as its vendor for the utility’s first community solar project, according to a July 9 news release.
Through the community solar program, residential and commercial electricity customers will be able to purchase panels from the 1.2-megawatt shared facility and receive credits on their electricity bills from CPS Energy.
Colorado-based Clean Energy Collective will site, construct and manage the project, the utility said in a news release. CPS Energy released a request for proposals seeking a vendor for the project in February, a spokesperson said. The utility’s selection of CEC was a culmination of an exhaustive search and RFP process, the utility said in the news release. “CEC emerged as the only vendor truly qualified to address CPS Energy’s comprehensive program requirements,” the utility said.
Clean Energy Collective is a solar technology company and community solar project developer that has worked with other public power utilities to install them. The company has already identified sites within CPS Energy’s territory where the project could be located. The project is expected to be completed later this year and panel pricing will be announced once the program is finalized.
Customers will buy into the project and then receive a separate bill credit on their utility bills. Customers can purchase as few as one panel or enough to cover their entire energy need. The rate at which customers will be credited has not yet been set, a spokesperson said, but will be different than what rooftop solar customers receive.
The community solar project is one of several steps the utility is taking to open up access to affordable solar, said Raiford Smith, vice president of corporate development and planning at CPS. The utility’s announcement came days after the White House released a new initiative to increase access to affordable solar power through community solar projects.
Learn more about community solar in the July-August issue of Public Power magazine, available online now.
By ">Laura D’Alessandro
Public Power
