HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — Harris County officials said they plan to roll out a solar panel program using millions of taxpayer dollars that'll help lower power bills for some residents.
The sun smacking Reliant Stadium's roof will soon be met with something other than the fabric material. The county plans to add solar panels.
The new power source, the county said, will bring about $1,000 a year in savings to 10,000 county residents.
This is a plan Commissioner Adrian Garcia said he's been working on for seven years.
"I heard about it being done on the West Coast, and I said, ' We absolutely must do this,'" Garcia recalled.
Garcia said it took years to figure out how it could work, where the panels could go, and how to pay for it. The plan, he said, is to put panels at seven sites.
Once running, the panels produce power for the grid, which Garcia said creates revenue for the county. In turn, the money will be used to lower power bills for selected participants.
The details of how that will work are still being ironed out. The price tag is nearly $90 million dollars in taxpayer money. Garcia said 40% of that will come from a federal tax credit. The rest is from county infrastructure funds.
After facing a deficit in September and voting to increase taxes, ABC13 asked Garcia about the solar panel program timing.
"You've got to start sometime," Garcia explained. "The saying, when's the best time to have planted a tree? Well, it's 25 years ago. So, we want to make sure we're doing this today so that we're creating this resiliency for tomorrow."
In a recent Rice University Kinder Institute study, nearly 90% of Harris County neighbors say utility bills are their biggest issue. A problem Garcia is looking to solve.
However, right now, the program is only able to assist about point two percent of the county's population.
"10,000 is what, with the energy we'll be able to harvest, we'll be able to serve," Garcia said. "So, don't want to overpromise and underdeliver, so we want 10,000 as a particular target."
Don't go looking to apply right now, though; they haven't even installed any of the solar panels yet.
The county plans to start taking applications next year. They're still working on who's eligible, but they told ABC13 income will be a factor.

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