Plugging Into Solar
Austin turns to solar to achieve energy goals
Facing a city council mandate to find more energy and to go green, Austin Energy (AE) has commissioned a power plant to take advantage of one resource the state has in abundance – sunshine.
The plant, set for completion in 2010, is scheduled to begin construction in January on 300 city-owned acres near Webberville, 17 miles east of Austin. It will have an annual energy output of 60,000-kilowatt hours (kWh), enough to power 5,000 homes. The ground-mounted tracking system, which will employ 170,000 solar-reception modules, is projected to save 30,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year.
Alternative
Energy
Where We Rank
Texas near top for new renewable power
Renewable electricity generation is growing rapidly in Texas as companies build new facilities and recycle older ones.
Texas ranked behind only California among the states for new clean energy jobs in 2007 and third in venture capital invested during 2006-08.
From 1998 to 2007, Texas had 15.5 percent growth in clean energy jobs compared with a 6.7 percent rate for all jobs, according to a study by the Pew Center on the States released in 2009.
“The state’s clean-energy economy is poised for incredible growth,” says Kil Huh, Pew project director.
And it’s getting help from the microchip manufacturing sector, which is searching for ways to combat job losses to overseas firms.
Applied Materials Inc., a California-based firm that has a sizeable presence in Texas, is looking to repurpose some of its production technology from computer chips to solar panels. Applied has acquired solar chip-making plants in Europe and is waiting on state incentives for utility customers before it converts existing production lines to solar chips.
Read the Pew Center on the States report “The Clean Energy Economy.”
Under the terms of a 25-year non-escalating power purchase agreement, Gemini Solar – a joint venture between Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. and Renewable Ventures, a solar power producer – will own and operate the plant and sell electricity to Austin Energy.
Austin officials opted to outsource the plant’s construction and maintenance because the 30 percent federal investment tax credits allowed the 15 bidders to estimate lower operating costs than the utility could do.
Austin’s 2007 Climate Protection Plan set a renewable energy use goal of 36.7 percent of total power by 2020. By that year, Austin hopes to be generating 200 megawatts of solar energy annually and to have reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent from 2005 levels.
“It’s just one step in our overall solar planning,” says Roger Duncan, AE general manager. “We give our rebates to residential owners ($2.50 a watt to install solar), and that totals three megawatts (MW). Our goal is to go to 100 MW in production and we proposed to council to go to 200 MW by 2010.”
“There is a lot more solar to be purchased. I think it will be a multiple of methodologies to achieve those goals.”
To complement the solar production, AE plans to develop a storage strategy; promote electric vehicle incentives; accelerate deployment of a smart grid that increases efficiency; and grow the local green-collar job force.
Among the benefits of the program cited by Gemini are rapid deployment, minimal environmental impact, no use of water, minimal maintenance and a less obtrusive and noisy presence.
Matt Cheney, Renewable Ventures CEO, says there could be an economic benefit. With Gemini in talks with other Texas utility systems – he would not name them while negotiations are in progress – parent company Suntech is considering locating a production plant in the state.
Duncan said he expects that improvements in technology soon will make solar energy production cost effective in Texas. Power from the Webberville project is estimated to cost 16 to 17 cents per kW, compared to 6 to 7 cents for power from traditional generation sources.
“Solar is dropping in price and dropping rapidly,” Duncan says. “I expect in the next
5 to 10 years it will achieve what people call grid parity.”
“Solar power produces energy when electricity demand is at its peak, during the summer when air conditioning usage puts a strain on the grid,” Cheney says. “That’s what we call a good match.” TR
Find out more about Austin’s green energy goals. at Austin Energy’s Web site.
