Consider the prospect of installing a solar system on the roof of your building and being able to generate and sell power back to the electrical grid. Through CPS Energy’s Solartricity^TM Producer Program, it may soon be possible, and, ultimately, good for your business.

Solartricity is a market-based initiative that will attempt to attract hundreds of small-to-large scale solar energy-generating projects to the Greater San Antonio area.

CPS Energy hopes to launch Solartricity in the near future, however the program is being put on hold as the company focuses on its broader Strategic Energy Plan. An update on the Solartricity Producer program is anticipated in early 2010.  When more specifics become available, they will be announced via cpsenergy.com, releases to the news media and telephonic updates at (210) 353-3388.

CPS Energy has embraced solar as part of a long-term transition to distributed generation. Distributed generation refers to the production of electricity by those with solar, wind and other renewable-energy systems scattered throughout the CPS Energy grid. With the addition of this program, CPS Energy can offer solar-energy options for our small, medium and large customers, similar to our successful Windtricity® program. 

Applicants with solar-energy systems that produce 25 to 500 kilowatts will be eligible for the program. CPS Energy will seek to add up to 5 megawatts (MW) of solar production in each of the next two years.

Solartricity producers will be responsible for the cost involved in purchasing, installing and maintaining their own solar-energy systems. Preliminary plans call for Solartricity producers to sign 20-year agreements to sell solar energy at a rate of 27 cents per kilowatt-hour (KWH) to CPS Energy.  The company’s net investment of 10 MW is estimated at an annual cost of $2.3 million.  To help fund the project, CPS Energy plans to establish a Solartricity program comparable to Windtricity that will allow us to sell solar energy at a retail price to residential and commercial customers. Just like a business buys raw material from a wholesaler to make a product, CPS Energy plans to purchase energy from wholesale Solartricity producers and sell it to customers as Solartricity.

This distributed-generation model will be consistent with CPS Energy’s Vision 2020 and the City of San Antonio’s Mission Verde. Renewable energy sources like solar and wind are part of CPS Energy’s overall strategy to meet Greater San Antonio’s energy needs with diversified sources. CPS Energy has the most solar-generated electricity (41 MW) under contract in the state of Texas.  We are already number 1 nationally in wind-energy capacity among municipally owned utilities.