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A new program could help San Antonio residents benefit from solar power, even if they have no roof for solar panels.
CPS Energy is expanding a community solar power program that lets San Antonio residents buy solar panels that are installed in other, prime locations in the area. In exchange, customers get a credit on their electricity bill by selling the solar energy back to CPS Energy.
The utility is collaborating with Big Sun Solar, a San Antonio-based solar company that works on commercial solar projects across Texas. Robert Miggins, CEO and co-founder of the company, said the program targets residential customers, but is open to anyone with a CPS account.
“Let’s say you rent a house. Let’s say you don’t want to cut down trees,” Miggins said. “Let’s say your roof faces the wrong direction … let’s say you don’t like how solar panels look or you don’t know how long you’ll live somewhere.”
Anyone who can’t put a solar panel on their own roof is a good fit, Miggins said.
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Customers can choose to purchase solar panels in a shared, community facility and could potentially buy enough panels to offset 100% of their electric consumption, according to a CPS Energy press release.
CPS Energy collaborated with Big Sun Solar on a smaller pilot program in 2019 and announced plans for a larger community solar project in 2023. It’s part of the utility’s push to both diversify its power supply and make its electricity generation more sustainable in the face of climate change.
A single solar panel costs $1,240 and could take $115 over the course of a year off their power bills, according to Miggins. The program lasts for 20 years and savings from one solar panel could add up to $2,300.
“It’s a commercial-grade module, which is always bigger than a residential module,” Miggins said. “It’s got more solar cells and is taller and wider.”
Each panel can generate 620 watts per hour. Miggins emphasized that customers own the panel outright. They can sell them to a waitlist of other interested customers or move the panels to another location entirely, if they choose.
Miggins added that Big Sun Solar installs the panels, pays for insurance and maintains them. The company funds that through customers’ initial purchase and takes a small fraction of the revenue from the sale of solar power to CPS Energy.
He could not disclose the size of that fraction. Miggins said owners of the panels through the program would sell electricity to CPS Energy at 10 cents per kilowatt hour.
CPS Energy typically sells power at 12 to 13 cents per kilowatt hour, he said. Miggins acknowledged that customers that built solar panels on their own roof could sell the electricity back to CPS Energy at the 12 to 13 cent rate.
A pilot program in 2019 which made five megawatts of solar power available sold out, Miggins said. The new program will have 50 megawatts available.
That’s enough power for 10,000 homes, according to CPS Energy.
Miggins said the program will be rolled out in two phases. First, 20,000 megawatts will be sold and built, or around 39,000 solar panels. If that first phase is successful, the program will scale up to the full 50,000 megawatts — roughly 100,000 solar panels.
Solar panels will be installed first at the San Antonio Food Bank, which is leasing roof space to Big Sun Solar. Then, the company will start building solar facilities on rented land in Bexar County that has good exposure to sunlight.
Miggins said CPS Energy customers can sign up for the program on the company’s website and make a $100 refundable deposit or seek to purchase the panels immediately.
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Jasper Kenzo Sundeen covers business for the San Antonio Report. Previously, he covered local governments, labor and economics for the Yakima Herald-Republic in Central Washington. He was born and raised… More by Jasper Kenzo Sundeen
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