May Happy Hour: Austin Solar Policy Update
Austin Energy has been a leader on renewable energy adoption, including distributed solar for many years. That’s both because of leadership at the utility and the Austin City Council and because of public demand for progressive energy policies.
That’s the beauty of having a democratically controlled electric utility – it’s responsive to the public. That benefit comes with the responsibility to stay engaged. And that’s a role we play at Solar Austin – helping people learn about the benefits of solar and then getting involved to continue improving local policies and programs to keep solar growing in the Austin area.
Solar Austin was involved in getting the solar rebate program started at Austin Energy and we’ve worked to ensure a steady budget for the solar programs over the years.
There are several potential changes to Austin solar policies and programs in the works. Join us to learn what we’re working on and how you can get involved.
Whether you work in the solar industry, have solar on your home or just think we need to use more solar to reduce our impact on the environment and create local jobs – we want you to get involved.
May 23, 5:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Scholz Garten
1607 San Jacinto St.
Please RSVP
You’ll hear from the Solar Austin board of directors about our vision for several policies and programs:
- Commercial Value of Solar tariff
- Solar for affordable housing
- Solar for low-income customers in single-family homes
- Solar goals
- Solar rebates and performance-based incentives
Now is the time to get active.
There was a time when solar energy was only accessible to those with cash on hand to buy a system outright. Then financing for solar became common place and middle income people with decent credit scores could go solar without paying up front. Now, there is finally a focus on making solar accessible for low-income residents as well. San Antonio’s electric utility – CPS – has launched an innovative new program called Solar Host that allows customers to benefit from solar without making any investment.
Rick Luna is Sr. Manager, Product Development for CPS Energy. Rick oversees a program portfolio that includes a variety of solar, demand response and energy efficiency offerings for residential and commercial customers. Rick’s team is instrumental in achieving the Save for Tomorrow Energy Plan (STEP) goal of reducing demand by 771 MW by 2020. Rick’s work has included account management, rate design and economic development. He holds a B.A. in economics from Columbia University.
Tuan Pham is the head of PowerFin, a solar development, financing, and operating company, with offices in Austin and San Antonio. Throughout his career, Tuan has focused on areas where energy and finance converge. Prior to his role in business development at HelioVolt, a thin-film solar company, Tuan covered energy and chemical companies at Morgan Stanley and Banc of America Securities in New York. Tuan’s experience also includes time at the Austin Clean Energy Incubator and Strategic Value Partners, a $5 billion hedge fund, where he served as a Director overseeing energy and industrial investments. Tuan also served on the Austin Local Solar Advisory Committee, a City Council-appointed committee to devise a plan for citywide solar development.
“Imagine a company intellectually immersed inside the EV market with master certified electricians installing today’s most advanced EV charging systems, laid out strategically across Texas. An entity whose single focus is to provide a complete turnkey solution for their Residential, Commercial and Industrial customers with the highest quality standards in customer service and craftsmanship. Pioneers continuing to provide all EV drivers with the most attractive, affordable and reliable means of EV charging available. Now imagine that company inside every major metropolitan city across America and what such deployment can do to accelerate the advent of EV’s in a worldwide effort to reverse the damaging affects of CO2 emissions on our planet. “That’s the driving force behind Smart Charge Residential” says CEO, Joseph Barletta. “The sheer presence of a Smart Charge Residential inside the marketplace will encourage a general sense of security, piece of mind, reliability, service expertise and understanding for EV’s from today’s mainstream consumers. Such focus is critical to accelerating EV adoption as we move forward with restoring our planet to an environment our children’s children can enjoy. This is the single most important factor that drives our intensity and lays the foundation for our company’s mission.” Barletta is now working on Smart Charge America, SCR’s parent company, in an effort to continue scalability across the US.