CPS Energy has reopened its community solar program, which lets customers benefit from solar power without installing panels on their own roofs.
The relaunched program lets customers benefit from solar power without ever installing a panel on their own roof, according to San Antonio Express-News. Panels are priced at $1,240 each. CPS Energy has partnered with Big Sun Solar on the effort, placing arrays on business rooftops and in open fields rather than on individual homes.
The utility's community solar concept isn't new. An Adkins community solar array opened in 2016, while Big Sun Solar's account dates the original CPS Energy pilot to 2018. The current panels are 620 watts each.
A Bigger Build, and a Long Waiting List
This time, Big Sun Solar is contracted to build up to 50 megawatts of solar — enough to power approximately 10,000 homes. The first phase covers 20 megawatts and includes the San Antonio Food Bank rooftop and sites in Bexar County.
Big Sun Solar holds a $30 million municipal contract to install 13.1 megawatts of rooftop and canopy solar across 54 San Antonio city facilities, according to Big Sun Solar — part of the city's push toward net-zero energy across municipal buildings by 2040.
Demand for the relaunched program has been striking: by the time CPS Energy formally announced the 50-megawatt expansion in August, roughly 1,800 customers were already on the waiting list, per Big Sun Solar. Big Sun Solar projects the program will serve around 4,000 customers once the 50-megawatt program is fully subscribed.
How the Contracts and Credits Work
Community solar customers sign 20-year contracts that provide bill credits based on the value of generated energy, with credits appearing directly on customers' CPS Energy statements. Operations and maintenance and insurance are included, the Express-News reported.
Should a customer move within the CPS Energy service area, their credit follows them. Customers own their allocated panels and can sell them.
Lessons From an Earlier Solar Pilot
CPS Energy's community solar ambitions actually date back further than 2019. The utility's first pilot launched in 2016 in Adkins, Texas, when it partnered with Clean Energy Collective to build a 1.2-megawatt “Roofless Solar” array serving 244 local customers, according to the San Antonio Report. That early experiment came with an unwelcome surprise: participants were later hit with unexpected property tax assessments from the Bexar County Appraisal District, because Texas solar tax exemptions applied to solar and wind installations primarily for on-site energy use, not shared off-site arrays.
Under the current 2026 rollout, the outlet has reported that a single 620-watt panel is estimated to yield around $115 per year in bill credits, adding up to as much as $2,300 in total financial credit over the full 20-year contract — figures that give prospective buyers a clearer sense of the math behind Casas's decision to sign on.
Part of a Larger Energy Transition
CPS Energy's Sustainable Tomorrow Energy Plan is part of the utility's broader energy programs, according to CPS Energy.
CPS Energy's Vision 2027 Generation Plan includes a plan to close J.K. Spruce 1 by the end of 2028, convert Spruce 2, and a Braunig retirement plan — a transition Hoodline detailed previously.
Meanwhile, official municipal reporting released in October 2025 showed San Antonio's greenhouse gas emissions actually rose slightly, from 16.72 million metric tons in 2021 to 16.86 million metric tons in 2023, missing interim targets set in the city's 2019 Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, according to Deceleration. That gap underscores why programs like community solar, alongside battery storage and plant retirements, remain central to the city's broader decarbonization push even as demand for cleaner power keeps growing.
