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SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS (July 9, 2015) – Clean Energy Collective (CEC), the world’s leading community solar provider, announced today a new partnership with CPS Energy, bringing the first roofless community solar pilot project to San Antonio, Texas. CEC will develop a 1.2 MW (DC) solar PV facility, providing CPS Energy customers the opportunity to own local clean energy generation through CEC’s Roofless Solar program.
“We are excited to partner with Clean Energy Collective to bring community solar to San Antonio, making solar power more affordable and accessible to our customers,” said Raiford Smith, vice president corporate development and planning for CPS Energy. “CEC’s model is just one of several steps we are taking to broaden access to affordable solar—something our customers have been asking of us for some time. This is a great step toward achieving that goal.”
Through CEC’s Roofless Solar program, any residential, commercial, or non-profit electric customer in the CPS Energy service territory can purchase individual panels in the shared facility, as few as one panel or enough to completely offset their energy needs. Roofless Solar customers will receive credit for their power production directly on their monthly CPS Energy bills.
“CPS Energy’s long-term strategy of providing additional options to the citizens of San Antonio for a broader adoption of solar power in the area is exciting for all of us,” said Anita Ledbetter, executive director of Build San Antonio Green. “CPS Energy has been a strong partner in the past and we welcome CEC’s Roofless Solar program as another example of our community’s collaborative commitment to renewable energy.”
CPS Energy’s selection of CEC was a culmination of an exhaustive search and RFP process. CEC emerged as the only vendor truly qualified to address CPS Energy’s comprehensive program requirements. This is the second Texas utility to integrate the CEC roofless solar solution in the past month, and CEC’s 21st utility partner.
“It is great to partner with a progressive utility so enthusiastic about the immense potential of community solar,” said CEC founder and CEO Paul Spencer. “CPS Energy has demonstrated its drive to be forward looking, and create value for its customers from emerging technologies like roofless solar.”
CEC has identified sites within the CPS Energy territory for the project, which is expected to be completed later this year. The facility will incorporate single-axis tracker technology that follows the sun’s path across the sky, maximizing solar exposure and power generation by as much as 15 percent over traditional fixed systems and providing participating customers more benefit than achievable by non-tracking rooftop solar. CEC is prioritizing the use of local resources for construction and EPC services. Panel pricing will be announced once details of the program are finalized.
About Clean Energy Collective
A solar tech start-up in 2009, Clean Energy Collective (CEC) has grown to become the world’s leading developer of Roofless Community Solar solutions. CEC pioneered the model of delivering clean power-generation through medium-scale solar PV facilities accessible to all utility customers. Since establishing the first community-owned solar array in the country in 2010 near El Jebel, Colorado, CEC has built or has under development more than 90 Roofless Community Solar projects with 21 utility partners across 10 states serving thousands of customers, representing more than 100 MW of community solar capacity. www.easycleanenergy.com
About CPS Energy
CPS Energy is the nation’s largest municipally owned natural gas and electric company, providing service to 772,000 electric and 337,000 natural gas customers in the Greater San Antonio area. With our AA+ credit rating, one of the best in the industry, we offer best in class reliability and the lowest rates among the top 10 largest U.S. cities. We recognize our role as a community partner and are continuously focused on job creation, economic development and educational investment. Powered by our people, our investment in the community is demonstrated through our employees’ generosity in giving $1 million to United Way. We are also committed to investing in clean energy. CPS Energy is the number one wind energy buyer among the nation’s municipally owned utilities and number one in Texas for solar generation. For more information, visit newsroom.cpsenergy.com. |