TEXAS \u2014 Back in 2023, San Antonio City Council approved a multi-million dollar municipal solar project \u2014 offsetting how much the city spends on electricity every year.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere in San Antonio, we have an abundance of sun, so why not use it,\u201d said San Antonio\u2019s Director of Resilience and Sustainability Laura Patino. \u201c<\/b>It\u2019s free energy that we can recapture to power our buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Texas leads the nation in solar energy production.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re now standing under the solar canopy, and it feels a lot cooler and that is one of the benefits that we have from the carport canopy,\u201d Patino said.<\/p>\n
It’s a renewable energy source that San Antonio is investing in \u2014 in a big way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe received $30.7 million in approval to install the first and largest municipal solar program in Texas,\u201d Patino said.<\/p>\n
Patino says utility costs will be cut by 11%.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s direct savings that are demonstrating good use of taxpayers\u2019 dollars,\u201d Patino said.<\/p>\n
Big Sun Solar was selected to develop and manage the project. The company is installing solar canopies, or rooftop panels, at 52 city-owned sites across town.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s providing shade, but it also is ensuring that we\u2019re alleviating the impact of the grid,\u201d Patino said. \u201cSo that is about 60% of energy usage what this building usually takes from the grid, is now being produced on site, making it truly resilient.\u201d<\/p>\n
From community centers to libraries and fire stations, these solar panels are ensuring residents have a safe place to come during extreme weather.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there is a power outage, or we have a disruption in the grid, this building can continue to operate to serve as a residence hub,\u201d Patino said.<\/p>\n
With this investment in solar energy, Patino says the city anticipates at least $7 million in federal tax credits over the next 25 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe received the first check for the U.S. Department of Treasury that was $1.2 million in tax rebates coming directly to the city for the first six projects that were installed in 2024,\u201d Patino said.<\/p>\n
Once complete, this solar project will generate about 13 megawatts of energy, which could power thousands of homes.<\/p>\n
Patino says these solar parking canopies will help lessen the impact of hotter temperatures often felt within cities.<\/p>\n
\u201cDirectly contributing to mitigate the urban heat island effect we feel in San Antonio,\u201d Patino said.<\/p>\n
San Antonio is about halfway through with the on-site solar installation \u2014 the second largest municipal government project in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking at alternative sources of energy so that we can sustain that demand and ensure we can continue with our operations while reducing the cost,\u201d Patino said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEXAS \u2014 Back in 2023, San Antonio City Council approved a multi-million dollar municipal solar project \u2014 offsetting…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":919148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5133],"tags":[105267,5229,7363,359,7366,5281,1596,31126,50,7202,7203,358,41035,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5284],"class_list":["post-919147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-amber-hughes","tag-america","tag-app-community","tag-austin","tag-community-news","tag-ctv","tag-dallas","tag-el-paso","tag-news","tag-san-antonio","tag-sanantonio","tag-texas","tag-texas-what-you-need-to-know","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-vod"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116880153380929702","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}