The warm and sunny city of San Antonio, Texas, has just been deemed a Solar America City by the U.S. Department of Energy, an announcement that came during the 2nd Solar America Cities Annual Meeting in the same city. Along with title, the city was awarded with $200,000 in grant money in order to get the ball rolling on the Solar San Antonio 2015 project, which involves a solar infrastructure for the city. But the good news for the San Antonio folks doesn’t end there: the Energy Department will also provide technical experts who will aid in energy planning, facilities and zoning through hands-on help.
Appropriately, the city is no stranger to solar. The San Antonio 2015 program aims to develop solar-friendly policies throughout the city in order to embrace solar power on a larger, more cohesive scale, and use it to power existing and new city-owned buildings as well as build a solar energy system on city property. Campaigns and rebate programs are in the works to reach local business and residents in a plan to advocate the benefits and sensibility of solar power. Currently, San Antonio is home to the largest solar energy installation in Texas with its plans to install a 200 kw solar panel system on a building that harbors offices, retail spaces and residences, to the tune of $1.35 million.
San Antonio, and Texas, is getting full support from environmental groups for its forward-thinking solar strategies. In the Public Citizen Report published this past February, Texas Solar Roundup, it’s clear that the state’s ten year goal to move to a solar-based renewable standard of a 4,000 megawatt capacity will speed up rebate programs as well as produce fair buy-back prices for resident-made power. Presently, the state of Texas is making plans to eliminate 29 million tons of pollution, provide 22,000 solar industry manufacturing and installation jobs and to stabilize energy prices. Knowing this, it’s no wonder that the city was selected as one of the 25 cities included in the Solar America Cities.