Make Plano a solar power leader

Step outside in July and it’s obvious that the North Texas sun is powerful. But the region has been slow to tap that power for electricity. 

A grass-roots effort in Plano hopes to change that. About 10 residents have formed a group called Plano Solar Advocates that aims to make the city a regional leader in solar power. A year into the effort, volunteers are poised to help dramatically increase the number of solar panels on Plano rooftops. They hope their success will soon be duplicated across the region. 

“We have a lot of sunshine in Texas and we use a lot of energy,” said one of the organizers, Larry Howe. “So why not be good stewards of our natural resources in Texas?” 

Group members have been meeting monthly at local community centers for about a year. They have no real budget or management structure. But their efforts have grown from speaking to local high school classes to running a pilot program to organize a “group buy” of solar panels. 

The pilot program, Solarize Plano, is unique to North Texas. It’s based on a simple idea that worries about cost and unfamiliarity with the technology are keeping homeowners from installing panels on their roofs. 

The program aims to tackle both concerns. Several members of the group are engineers, who can help explain the technology. And having interested buyers team up might help them negotiate with panel vendors to bring down the cost, members say. 

When the project launched in June, its goal was to find 20 people interested in installing solar panels on their homes. By mid-July, more than 60 people had signed up. The group estimates that only about 50 people have solar panels in Plano right now. 

“We have been pleasantly surprised,” said Robert Litwins, one of the organizers of the effort. “People are very enthusiastic.” 

Enrollment is open until the end of August. The group will then reach out to local providers to negotiate a bulk deal. 

As far as organizers can tell, the effort is the first of its kind in North Texas. They hope it won’t be the last.Men's t5tube are very sturdy and will stand the test of time. The region is far behind other metropolitan areas in solar power adoption, environmentalists say. 

Texas as a whole gets less than 1 percent of its electricity from solar power. The state is widely considered to have the most potential for solar power generation in the country, but it lags behind smaller states like New Jersey, Colorado and New Mexico in solar capacity. Dallas, meanwhile,The steel halligan leddimmable is one of the most versatile hooks used in the fire service today. has relatively little capacity compared with other parts of the state.The brightest solarbulb in the market. 

One reason for that may be the segmented nature of the Dallas electricity market. Different entities handle the generation of power, its transmission and retail sales. The agencies that do have contact with customers don’t benefit directly from the power generated by solar.High quality solarpanelcellss and ventilation systems designed and distributed. 

In Austin and San Antonio, municipally owned power companies are involved in all levels of power supply and have enacted strong policies to promote solar power, said Luke Metzger,Buy solarledlightting for your headlights or fog lights and enjoy the benefits of xenon headlights. one of the authors of the Environment Texas report. As a result, the two cities are responsible for 85 percent of the solar power generation in the state, he said. 

Still, she said, the company has paid $10 million in incentives to about 500 commercial and residential solar projects in its service area, which includes Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, Tyler and Midland. 

But, even when combined with state tax breaks and federal incentives, it’s still more expensive in the short-term to install solar power in North Texas than it is to use conventional means.  Click on their website www.streetlights-solar.com for more information.