Solar & Battery Regulation & Incentive Programs
The City Council of Austin, Texas, first adopted a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) in 1999 (Resolution No. 990211-36). The RPS was subsequently amended several times, with the current RPS goal—65% renewables by 2025—among the most ambitious in the nation.
Eligible Technologies
Renewable resources include those that rely on energy derived directly from the sun, wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, wave or tidal energy, or biomass or biomass-based waste products, including landfill gas.
Goals and Requirements
The RPS for Austin Energy (the City of Austin’s municipal utility) and the city as a whole include the following renewable energy and greenhouse gas emission goals, targets, and standards:
Carve-Outs
In August 2014 the City Council increased the RPS solar carve-out by setting a goal for Austin Energy of 600 megawatts (MW) of new utility-scale solar by 2017 and 200 MW of “local solar” by 2020, of which at least 100 MW is to be customer-controlled (behind the meter) solar.
Compliance
In August 2014 the City Council directed the City Manager to develop and implement the “policies, procedures, timelines, and targets necessary to make Austin the leading city in the nation in the effort to reduce and reverse the negative impacts of global warming.”
To achieve this vision and the above goals, the City Council specified that the City Manager implement several design enhancements to its solar market. First, Austin Energy’s commercial and residential solar incentive program will be revised to explicitly allow third-party leased system hosts to participate in a commercial and residential incentive program. Second, the Residential Solar Tariff (i.e., the Value of Solar Rate) incentive will be enhanced in the following ways:
Third, the City Manager will develop a comprehensive strategy for the deployment and use of distribution-level and transmission-level storage technologies with a target of 200 MW of fast response storage by 2024.
Among its other initiatives designed to promote renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the Austin City Council has also adopted the mayor's Climate Protection Plan (Resolution 20070215-023), set a green power procurement goal of powering municipal buildings and facilities using 100% renewable energy by 2012, and implemented advanced building codes to maximize energy efficiency.
Cost Mitigation Measures
Notably, Austin’s Affordability Goal (set in 2011 and reaffirmed in August 2014) calls for rate increases to residential, commercial, and industrial Austin Energy customers to not exceed 2% per year, with a goal of maintaining Austin Energy’s rates in the lower 50 percent of Texas rates overall.
Name | Enacted Date | Effective Date | Expired Date |
---|---|---|---|
City Council Resolution No. 990211-36 | 02/11/1999 | 12/31/2004 | |
City Council Resolution No. 030925-2 | 09/25/2003 | 01/01/2020 | |
Austin Energy's Ten-Year Strategic Plan | 12/04/2003 | ||
City Council Resolution No. 20070215-023 | 02/15/2007 | ||
City Council Approval Vote | 02/17/2011 | ||
City Council Resolution No. 20140410-024 | 04/10/2014 | ||
City Council Resolution No. 20140828-157 | 08/28/2014 |