EPA grants empower Texas to expand solar access for more households

In April, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the Texas Solar for All Coalition (Texas Coalition) was one of 60 organizations awarded a grant from its Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The Texas Coalition – comprised of large municipalities, small and mid-size cities, counties, and affordable housing and energy nonprofits – received $249.7 million. The Texas Coalition’s primary goal is to transform access to distributed solar in Texas. To that end, the EPA estimates that its 60 grants totaling $7 billion will result in 900,000 low-income and disadvantaged communities benefiting from distributed solar energy and more than $350 million in annual savings on electric bills nationwide.

While the Texas Coalition is the only group focused entirely on Texas, the state stands to benefit from other multistate grantees. For instance, Texas is part of the multistate grant recipients Clean Energy Fund of Texas (awarded $156,120,000), Inclusive Property Capital, Inc. (awarded $249,300,000) and GRID Alternatives (awarded $249,800,000). Adding up Texas’ share in those grants, the potential total investment in the state could well exceed $270 million.

While this influx of grant money will be transformative for Texas, organizations across the United States have struggled for years to bring the benefits of solar energy to low- and moderate-income households with mixed results. The good news is that because of those attempts, no grantee needs to start the process from zero. In fact, to maximize the investment funding, it is imperative the Texas Coalition leverage the expertise of solar partners who have learned from previous programs to find success where others have struggled.

The Big Sun Solar team has extensive experience developing, deploying and maintaining low-income solar programs. This includes managing one of the largest community solar programs in Texas as Big Sun Solar and a single-family program while working at a different firm. To foster a collaborative spirit and help the Texas Coalition leverage our experience from previous programs, here are some important lessons we learned:

1. Making customer service and transparency a priority: When another solar company launched a community solar program with enough solar capacity for approximately 450 households, it received nearly 10,000 applications, quickly transitioning to a customer service firm. Though well-versed in building out distributed residential and commercial solar programs, many solar partners lack (a) the experience to execute “customer first” customer service strategies, and (b) the customer service expertise required for municipality-sponsored programs. Municipalities, counties and others should partner with trustworthy firms with the proven ability to mitigate potential customer service issues.
2. Flexibility is key: Grant recipients must keep their programs flexible enough to respond to unknown challenges. Another early low-to-moderate income program in Texas that my team worked on required that distributed solar resources be located on single-family rooftops. Our team learned that old rooftops, mature shade trees and electrical service panel code violations would disqualify many applicants from the program. Subsequently, the next low-income solar program Big Sun Solar developed recognized this challenge. We moved the distributed solar energy resources off the rooftops to canopies over hot parking lots, thereby eliminating the site constraints of the prior program, while providing a valuable asset in the form of shade. Programs focusing on single-family rooftops should understand the site constraint challenges before designing the program to maximize success and participation.
3. Focus on the customer’s needs: Solar programs need to be developed with low-to-moderate-income customers in mind – focusing on reducing energy bills, not just carbon emissions. According to the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute (TEPRI), Texas families with the lowest incomes spend an average of 12% of their income on electricity. While carbon emissions are the ultimate goal, the focus of the Solar for All grant includes reducing the energy bills for low-income households by at least 20%. Before launching, it is beneficial to meet with community leaders to ensure the programs are directed at solving the correct challenges and reaching the right households. Many municipalities and utilities offer solar programs that include performance-based incentives and upfront rebates. While these are generous and have been successful overall, several Texas communities saw predatory finance companies offering long-term, high-cost loans for solar panel installation. As a result, those customers who took the loans never reaped the intended financial benefits of the solar program.
4. Anticipate negative reactions: Households deemed ineligible for single-family rooftop solar programs may become upset with that decision. During the deployment of a previous low-to-moderate-income solar program, frustrated individuals contacted city council members to voice complaints about their ineligibility, which was based on poor roof condition, shade from trees or electrical code violations. A well-researched, targeted marketing campaign directed at specific eligible households would go far in mitigating that issue. Additionally, sponsoring organizations may include community solar options for households ineligible for single-family rooftop programs. It is important to be prepared for these types of reactions, and to prioritize customer service and communication from the start.
5. Leverage industry experts: Recipients of the EPA grants should take full advantage of industry experts’ knowledge and proficiency. For example, Big Sun Solar partnered with TEPRI to engage low-to-moderate-income households for its community solar program. Specifically, TEPRI helped with three important tasks: (a) It conducted a solar equity program landscape analysis of other low-to-moderate income community solar programs which gave Big Sun Solar valuable information related to both successful and failed concepts; (b) it developed and helped execute a marketing and communication plan for low-income households, and (c) it surveyed participating households yearly to verify the program’s value and savings.

Opportunities abound for the organizations deploying the grant funds and the solar providers with which they partner. However, choosing the right solar partner is crucial to achieving the highest percentage of success. In summary, look for solar partners who will:

1. Leverage experience from previous large-scale and distributed solar programs to mitigate execution risk
2. Focus on reducing energy bills while also reducing carbon emissions
3. Have in-house capabilities and resources to provide long-term asset management and production guarantees because underperforming systems will not provide monthly savings to low-income households
4. Develop program concepts that compound savings, drive future energy efficiency programs and fund more solar
5. Use solar to activate public spaces through structures that provide shade and resilience during extreme weather events

Most importantly, choose a solar partner with proven experience. The successful future of solar in Texas depends on it. The Solar for All Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grant is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to overcome the historic challenges with solar equity. The Texas Coalition is poised to lead the nation with innovative programs to bring real savings to low-income families across our great state.