CPS Energy and Silver Ventures have announced plans to install the largest solar installation in Texas at the site of the historic Pearl Brewery in San Antonio.
The $1.35 million project will feature a 200 kW array of solar panels atop a 67,000 square-foot former warehouse facility being adapted for office, retail and residential use. The project will generate about one-quarter of the building's total energy needs and will enable CPS Energy to test the viability of a solar energy application in a large, real-world commercial application, says Milton Lee, general manager of CPS Energy, San Antonio's city-owned power utility.
‘This is another way for CPS Energy to push ahead with efforts to diversify our portfolio of renewable energy resources that includes wind power and landfill gas,’ says Lee. ‘Our goal is to achieve renewable energy capacity equal to 15 percent of our customers' peak electrical demand by 2020, and we're now above 11 percent and one of only a handful of utility systems across the country that has surpassed the double-digit percentage mark.’
According to CPS Energy and Silver Ventures, the project will also serve as an educational venue for students and visitors to showcase the workings and benefits of solar power. Features include including state-of-the art metering devices that monitor energy use and display real-time information about the amount of solar energy being generated.
