Denton is set to become the second city in Texas to use 100 percent renewable energy.

Denton’s City Council voted 6-1 on Feb. 6 to approve an amendment to the Renewable Denton Plan which institutes the new goal with a target year of 2020. The plan’s original goal was to use 70 percent renewable energy by then.

The city’s utility company, Denton Municipal Electric, has determined that solar power is the city's best option for renewable energy, followed by coastal wind and then other wind energy. The city currently purchases 44 percent renewable energy.

Mayor Pro Tem Sara Bagheri cast the single opposing vote. Bagheri said she was opposed to the plan because of its inclusion of the Denton Energy Center, a natural-gas power plant near the Denton Enterprise Airport.

Bagheri said the DEC would worsen Denton's already polluted air, which state environmental agencies ranked as the worst in the state for the 2014-16 period.

The energy center is intended to function as a fail-safe in the event that the city requires additional energy aside from what is produced from renewable sources.

George Morrow, general manager of the city's utility, said the DEC would protect the city against electric-market price spikes and potentially earn the city revenue by selling power to the grid.

Morrow said that now is the best possible time to institute a renewable goal.

“Renewable resources are as cheap as I’ve ever seen them,” he said at the council meeting. “I don’t see that [the cost] could ever get any lower.”

The only other city in Texas to use 100 percent renewable energy is Georgetown, about 30 miles north of Austin, which made the move in 2015.

Denton announced the Renewable Denton Plan in late 2015 and decided to make changes after a re-evaluation from Enterprise Risk Consulting, the company that helped Georgetown reach 100 percent renewable use.