Austin Energy awarded grant to expand access to affordable renewable energy

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin Energy is expected to receive tens of millions of dollars in federal grant money to help low-income households with access to affordable renewable energy.

The money comes from a portion of $250 million spread across 60 Texas organizations, which is part of a $7 billion national grant from the Environmental Protection Agency called Solar For All, announced earlier this week in celebration of Earth Day.

Austin Energy said the money will help "direct deployment of clean solar energy to benefit thousands of historically disadvantaged communities and medically vulnerable residents."

The utility said the grant money will do the following:

• Expand access to rooftop and community solar, helping lower customer bills by more than 20% (average annual saving of nearly $2,000) in specific low-income communities.
• Create good green jobs via a locally trained workforce.
• Reduce carbon pollution by expanding green energy usage in the Austin area.
• Foster community resilience through battery backup systems, especially benefiting medically vulnerable citizens.  

Austin Energy said it will use the money to establish 15-year power purchase agreements for solar energy and performance contracts for storage batteries.

The renewable energy will become part of the Community Solar Program portfolio, and the batteries will be operated as virtual power plants, according to Austin Energy. The utility said it would help all Austin Energy customers save money when market energy costs are high.

The utility will work with local solar installation contractors to build solar and storage projects in low-income residential and multi-family housing sites, with a special emphasis on households with medically vulnerable residents, according to a release.

Austin Energy said the homes will receive an upfront incentive for hosting a solar array and battery for 15 years. The qualifying customer will receive a guaranteed 20% bill discount through the low-income Community Solar Program subscription.