CPS Energy, the utility owned by the City of San Antonio, recently started a rooftop solar pilot program, SolarHost San Antonio (SolarHostSA). PowerFin Partners (PowerFin), a Texas-based solar development company, is partnering with
CPS Energy on the program. At Burnham, we believe CPS Energy’s rooftop solar program has some unique features, and it is important to take a closer at SolarHostSA as an example of the new utility-led rooftop solar trend.
SolarHostSA is Part of CPS Energy’s Ongoing Work to Grow Solar
CPS Energy, the largest municipal utility in the country, has an extensive renewable energy portfolio and is actively involved in expanding solar in San Antonio. As a municipal utility, CPS Energy is not regulated by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and has more flexibility to design innovative programs than an investor-owned utility. Funded by a U.S. Department of Energy Solar America Cities grant, the utility and other stakeholders worked on an initiative to increase solar in the region, San Antonio’s Solar Development Plan. CPS Energy also leads the New Energy Economy, a program designed to boost San Antonio economic development while supporting clean energy and new technologies.
The utility decided that to increase solar adoption in San Antonio, it would need to create solar programs that will reach a broad range of customers. CPS Energy already has programs to encourage ownership of rooftop solar such as the CPS Energy Solar Rebates. However, it became clear that rooftop solar adopters in San Antonio represent a small number of people who can afford the cost of installing solar and installations are heavily concentrated in affluent areas. At the same time, the utility wanted to develop a rooftop solar program model that is economically sustainable for the utility, doesn’t shift the cost of grid maintenance to non-solar customers, and will preserve grid reliability. CPS Energy’s SolarHostSA program resulted from meetings with the local solar community and is designed to make solar more affordable and accessible.
PowerFin Will Own and be Responsible for the Solar Systems
CPS Energy will not be charging its customers for the SolarHostSA rooftop photovoltaic systems. In a novel arrangement, CPS Energy’s program partner, PowerFin, will own the solar installations and generated electricity. CPS Energy entered into a power purchase agreement with PowerFin to buy all the electricity generated by the SolarHostSA program. PowerFin will also be responsible for the photovoltaic system installation and maintenance.
CPS is hoping to install 10 megawatts of solar for the pilot program which will include approximately 1000 customers. The SolarHostSA customers will receive a credit on their electric bill of $0.03 for each kilowatt-hour their system generates over a 20-year period. If the property is sold, the credit goes to the new property owners.
Residential, commercial and non-profit customers located in CPS Energy’s service territory may apply for the SolarHostSA program. PowerFin will initially review applications using satellite imagery to evaluate both the roof’s orientation and shading. Residential customers must own their home and have a roof in good condition that faces south or west. If the property passes through the first phase of the process, PowerFin will conduct an on-site assessment. Once a customer is selected for the program, it is estimated to take 5-6 weeks for obtaining the necessary permits and 3-4 days to install the rooftop system. PowerFin will use local companies to do the installation. The installers will be required to use smart inverters as part of the systems to reduce power quality issues caused by traditional inverters. This requirement is part of the current solar industry push to test smart inverters to improve responses to voltage and frequency fluctuations.
CPS Energy is Also Offering a Community Solar Option
CPS Energy customers who are ineligible for the SolarHostSA program may participate in CPS Energy’s new community solar program, Roofless Solar. Under the program, customers may buy solar farm shares and sell the portion of the energy they produce to CPS Energy’s partner, Clean Energy Collective, in exchange for a bill credit. The more shares the customer owns the greater the bill credit.
CPS Energy Plans to Build on the SolarHostSA Pilot Program
There has been an overwhelming response to the SolarHostSA program which received several thousand applications during the program’s first week. According to CPS Energy, if the pilot program is successful, SolarHostSA will grow in upcoming years to a capacity of anywhere between 25 to 50 megawatts.
Right now, CPS Energy will evaluate management of SolarHostSA so any necessary changes can be made to scale the program. CPS Energy will also be analyzing how to manage the distributed resources, especially in high concentration areas, to maintain grid stability. The utility will be specifically looking at the performance of the smart inverters being used in the SolarHostSA program. CPS Energy is also hoping to determine how solar and other distributed resources can create a range of benefits and be incorporated in a future utility business model. We will continue to watch CPS Energy’s SolarHostSA, as well as other programs that are part of the new utility-led rooftop solar trend discussed in our recent post.
