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The City of San Antonio on Wednesday officially brought online the largest on-site solar installation project by a local Texas government.
The $30 million municipal initiative, developed by San Antonio-based solar company Big Sun Solar, aims to bring solar canopy shade structures to city-owned facilities.
The largest project installation at the Public Safety Answering Point — officially commissioned at the ceremony on Wednesday — is designed to offset 77% of the facility's annual electricity consumption.
In a statement, the city explained that the "Public Safety Answering Point ... features rooftop and solar canopies and provides 249 covered parking spaces for City employees."
"This project is the largest of the City's solar PV portfolio," said Douglas Melnick, chief sustainability officer, as quoted in a city statement. "San Antonio continues to set an example with innovative initiatives like this one. Not only does it enhance our building's energy efficiency, but it also supports economic and workforce development."
The city explained that 13 of the city's 42 municipal projects have already been commissioned as part of the program. Including the Public Safety Answering Point project, they total 4.11MW of solar capacity:
- Jean Yates Community Center, 568 Rasa Dr., District 4 Rooftop Installation
- Southside Lions Senior Center, 3303 Pecan Valley Dr., District 3 Rooftop Installation
- West Police Substation, 7000 Culebra Rd., District 5, Parking Lot Canopy Installation
- Pre-K 4 SA East, 5230 Eisenhauer Rd., District 5 Rooftop Installation
- Melendrez Community Center, 5919 W Commerce St., District 5 Rooftop Installation
- Southwest Service Center, 6927 W Commerce St., District 5 Parking Lot Canopy Installation.
- Cliff Morton Development and Business Services Center, 1901 S Alamo St., District 1 Rooftop and Parking Lot Canopy Installation.
- West Police Station, 7000 Culebra Rd., District 6 Parking Lot Canopy Installation.
- Fire Station #37, 11011 Vance Jackson Rd., District 8 Rooftop Installation.
- Garza Community Center, 1450 Mira Vista, District 7 Rooftop Installation.
- Northeast Senior Center, 4135 Thousand Oaks Dr., District 10 Parking Lot Canopy Installation.
- SAFD Service Garage, 230 S Callaghan Rd., District 6 Rooftop Installation.
- Public Safety Answering Point, 8039 Challenger Dr., District 3 Rooftop and Parking Lot Canopy Installation.
- John Igo Library, 13330 Kyle Seale Pkwy, San Antonio, TX 78249. District 8, Rooftop and Parking Lot Canopy
“One of our key municipal strategies is to reduce building energy consumption for all municipal buildings by 2040. With this installation and the future completed sites, we are making significant strides toward that goal,” Mayor Ron Nirenberg said, as quoted in a city statement. “These solar PV installations will not only help us improve our municipal building energy efficiency but also result in cost savings, shade and weather protection, and local jobs.”
Learn more about the status for each facility here.
