Council grows Houston's use of solar power

The California Valley Solar Farm near Santa Margarita, Calif., has 749,088 solar panels. Because of a shift in tax policy at the end of 2015, big solar plant deals are slowing. The California Valley Solar Farm near Santa Margarita, Calif., has 749,088 solar panels. Because of a shift in tax policy at the end of 2015, big solar plant deals are slowing. Photo: Michael Macor, Staff Photo: Michael Macor, Staff Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Council grows Houston's use of solar power 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Houston, the nation's largest municipal buyer of renewable energy, plans to grow its green power use through an expanded agreement with a solar plant under construction near Alpine in West Texas.

City Council in late 2015 agreed to a 20-year, $80 million deal to buy 30 megawatts of power a year from the Solaire Holman plant, which originally was to come online last December.

Council on Wednesday ramped up that purchase to accept all 50 megawatts the plant will produce, at $44.68 per megawatt-hour and a maximum price of $125 million over 20 years. That will be enough to cover 10.5 percent of the city's annual electricity needs, and is intended to replace an equivalent amount of coal-generated power.

Council members Mike Knox and Jack Christie voted against the agreement, with Knox questioning why the city would reward the company with an expanded contract when construction delays had caused it to miss the December deadline to begin delivering power. He also noted that the solar power was more costly than the city's current electricity rates.

"Today's contract sets a bad precedent for the city, what we do with a vendor who doesn't fulfill a contract – we reward the vendor with an even larger contract," Knox said.

Mayor Sylvester Turner said his review had suggested much of the delay was out of the company's hands and said the firm was paying the city $300,000 as a "signing bonus" under the new, expanded contract in recognition that the original contract envisioned penalties for delay.

"This is a 20-year deal, a locked-in, guaranteed rate," Turner said. "Green energy is better on so many different levels, and I think it's important for the city to diversify its energy supply."

The solar power now is targeted to start flowing into city meters this April.