A New Austin Solar Program Could Unlock a Clean Energy Future

Here’s something you never thought you could get excited about: your roof. The Austin City Council is expected to vote on a proposed Solar Standard Offer program this month. Everyone should take note.

Rooftop solar is often discussed as an afterthought, but thanks to lots of roofs and year-round sunshine, it’s Austin’s greatest opportunity to generate electricity without fossil fuels.   The program will allow rooftop solar development without the costly barrier of property owner investment. Solar companies will instead lease a property owner’s roof space to host solar arrays. The clean energy produced will be sold to Austin Energy. A property owner will no longer have to spend thousands or take a loan to install solar panels on their roof. Installation and maintenance will be the responsibility of the solar companies.

Austin Energy will pay 11.24 cents per kilowatt-hour for energy from solar systems under 1 megawatt and 8.41 cents for 1 megawatt or larger. The rates reflect the savings to Austin Energy when it avoids energy, transmission, and other grid operating costs. Because the utility is city-owned, Austin Energy’s savings are our savings.

Homes or commercial buildings with solar panels are often called “small-scale.” Under the new program, small scale isn’t small impact. Austin has thousands of megawatts of rooftop solar potential, but if you look around today, most roofs don’t have solar yet. The Solar Standard Offer will aggregate rooftop solar and allow small-scale to make a large impact. Reaching Austin’s full local solar potential will require local grid upgrades, but much can be done with the current infrastructure.

When launched, the program will open to larger commercial building installations. However, by January 2026, Austin Energy plans to expand to the residential sector. This is a great opportunity for property owners to create an additional revenue stream and help the community and the environment. Every vacant rooftop now has a dollar sign on it.

The utility needs local energy resources like this new program, and the alternatives are limited. Austin Energy can burn methane gas, hydrogen, ammonia, or biofuels. Most of those options generate greenhouse gas emissions and all add to local air pollution. Austin’s ground-level ozone and particulate matter levels are already above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s health-based standards. If we can’t improve quickly, a costly “noncompliance” EPA designation will likely be assigned to the region. And the health costs to Austin residents and workers are here now.

Paired with local batteries, rooftop solar – if scaled up – can provide that much-needed local resource.   Energy produced by the Solar Standard Offer program will add capacity to Austin Energy’s Community Solar program, which allows residents to choose solar-generated electricity without installing a solar system. The Community Solar program addresses a solar accessibility gap in which residents — renters, for example — want but can’t install solar at home. Subscription fees from the Community Solar program will also help fund residential solar installations in the second phase of the Standard Offer program. Together, the two solar programs help this community reach its full solar potential. Customers can sign up for the Community Solar waiting list on the Austin Energy website.

Increased rooftop solar benefits Austin Energy, the environment, and public health, and the local green jobs and sales tax revenue boost the local economy. Whether you own property, want to subscribe to Community Solar, or want to live in a healthy world, the Solar Standard Offer program is something to get excited about.