Texas Couple Moves to Renewables Along With the State
Thursday, January 5th 2012 2:03 PM
By GetSolar Staff.
When people think of solar power, most people imagine the sunny southern climates of the U.S., from Florida to California. Right in the middle of that range is Texas. Yet, many people look at the Lone Star State and immediately think of its massive oil industry.
That aspect of the state is unlikely to change any time soon, at least not as long as people need gasoline for their cars, but Texas has actually seen a major surge in renewable energy in recent years. Jeri Baker and Diana Dauwalder joined that movement with the help of Texas solar installer Solar Community.
Despite the emphasis on oil in the public image of Texas, the state actually uses very little of the fuel for electricity. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, petroleum accounted for only 0.4 percent of the state's total generation in 2009 with 35 percent coming from coal and 47.6 percent coming from natural gas.
Meanwhile, renewable energy sources have become a fairly important part of the state's energy sector, accounting for more than 10 percent of total capacity and nearly 6 percent of total generation. Unlike many states, Texas even relies only minimally on hydroelectricity, given that the state has suffered massive droughts in recent years.
Instead, the state has become one of the leading centers of wind power in the country and in 2010 the Solar Energy Industries Association reported for the first time that Texas had climbed into the top 10 for added solar capacity with 22.6 megawatts of solar installations. Much of that growth came from utility-scale solar plants, but residential and commercial solar both played a sizable role in the state.
This shift is hardly a rebuke of the local oil industry, however, but rather a response to the state's rapidly rising electricity rates. Homeowners like Jeri and Diana have seen a dramatic rise in their electricity bills over the past decade plus. Since 1999, when Texas residents paid an average of 7.55 cents per kilowatt-hour, rates had skyrocketed nearly 64 percent to 12.38 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2009.
In a state as hot and dry as Texas, this can make utility bills grow quickly out of control. Living in Austin, Texas, Jeri and Diana might not see the hottest temperatures in the state, but they certainly would be running their air conditioner. Meanwhile, the EIA reports that a combination of above average electricity prices and very high energy usage made the state's average electricity bills the sixth-highest in the state at $138.99 per month as of 2010.
With these costs showing no sign of slowing, Jeri and Diana turned to Solar Community in 2008, looking to offset as much of their bills as possible. Though a rooftop solar installation was not practical given the layout of their house and shading, the solar installers were able to design a 3.15-kilowatt pole-mounted solar system that would offset as much as 80 to 90 percent of their electricity usage.
Though Texas is one of the few remaining states that does not require net metering of solar installations, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency reports that Austin Energy, the city's municipal utility, implemented a program on its own. With their system tied into the grid and tracking its production on Sunny Webbox, Jeri and Diana have been able to watch as the system produces around 80 percent of all their electricity needs, earning them more than $6,000 in reimbursements from Austin Energy during the first three years of operation. In the mean time, the system has helped reduce carbon emissions by nearly 5 tons.
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When people think of solar power, most people imagine the sunny southern climates of the U.S., from Florida to California. Right in the middle of that range is Texas. Yet, many people look at the Lone Star State and immediately think of its massive oil industry.
