Texas must consider the implications of the solar boom.
Congress created the runway for solar power in a way unlike any other. The Investment Tax Credit, which reimburses a portion of the cost of a rooftop solar system to customers who purchase it, has been increased to 30% and extended for ten years.
This will give homeowners a solid incentive to invest in solar systems, making them less expensive and safer from blackouts and other financial problems.
This Dallas Morning News article explains that Texas solar installations have doubled over the past two years. This already rapid growth rate is set to accelerate: residential solar in Texas will grow five-fold by 2027.
This growth will take time: Like many others in recent years, our industry was hit hard by supply-chain issues. It may take several months for them all to recover.
However, demand will soon catch up to supply. Texas, already the nation’s leader in energy, will soon have a vast new resource.
We must take advantage of it.
First, I have written before that the state must reduce the bureaucracy that slows down the installation of solar panels. Texans can wait up to six months for their equipment to be activated by utilities in some areas. One of our customers had a terrible experience in Houston’s West University Place. The city delayed inspecting the solar system because the customer sealed their mailing envelopes properly and didn’t purchase extra stamps. (Read more in an Texas Monthly opinion article I co-authored).
Recent projections indicate that approximately a million Texas homeowners will install solar panels on to their roofs within the next five- or six years. It only takes a little for the state to make this easier. We must stop homeowners associations and local officials from making it more difficult.
There are also more important questions about Texas’ power grid. A solar boom is transforming Texas into a miniature power plant. They’ll produce more electricity than they consume on many days. Some days, especially when Texans crank up the air conditioners, they will produce more electricity than the state uses. This excess power will often flow back onto the grid to be used by others.
These homeowners should be compensated for the electricity they provide to Texas. But they are often not. Instead, utilities sell excess electricity to customers even though they never paid for it.
This is more than just unfair. It creates an inevitability for homeowners to use as much electricity as possible — even if the state grid requires it — while it’s still hot.
The Texas Public Utility Commission may approve a pilot project in the next month. This will allow homeowners to see how small-scale power plants can strengthen the power grid, and how they can be compensated for their electricity.
No one is asking for any special treatment. Just fairness.
Millions of Texans already see solar power as a financial option. The Investment Tax Credit Extension makes these benefits even more clear. Solar power was already growing, and that growth is set to continue.
This is excellent news to Texans, who want to be free from high electricity bills and safety from grid instability or extreme weather. It’s also great news for Texas because it can use its vast energy expertise to extract as much value as possible from the sun and soil below our feet.
In 10 years, the energy landscape in Texas will be very different than it is today. Let’s use this opportunity to shape it and get the most value out of it.