SAN ANTONIO – The grand opening of a 240,000-square-foot factory is a celebration for more than Mission Solar Energy, it's a party for the solar community, which has been working together to create a clean-energy consortium of businesses.
CPS Energy, OCI Co. and Mission Solar are now operating businesses that utilize all areas of solar energy. The latest is building N-type solar cells and modules, a first for Texas.
The panels will be installed at local solar farms and will generate clean electricity that will fuel the community and CPS Energy's New Energy Economy Initiative.
The Brooks City Base factory produces a type of solar panel that is superior to the P-type products, according to CPS CEO Doyle Beneby.
"What our hope is that with these cells produced, as these panels are produced, we move from utility-based solar, to heavy industrial solar and residential rooftop solar. What's good about this technology is that it's so efficient, it's good for all three phases," he said.
The new Energy Economy Initiative has brought nearly 100 megawatts of solar power to San Antonio. It expects to hit 200 megawatts next year, which is 10 percent of the city's energy needs.
The president of Mission Solar Energy, Alex Kim, says this is the cutting edge of solar and could be a boon to our economy, too.
"At this time, our total annual payroll is $13 million, which will eventually come back into the San Antonio economy," he said.
Executive Director Brad Miles agreed.
"Today we have 240 employees. By the end of the year, we'll have 275, and by next year, we will have more than 400," said Miles.
He says Brooks City Base has enough real estate to host three factories of this size, so as the company grows, so will the economic impact.
Miles can afford to be optimistic because San Antonio-based OCI Solar Power, a solar developer in the consortium, has five operating projects and four of them will utilize Mission's modules.
CPS Energy officials think this relationship is a centerpiece to the utility's goal of reducing the community's demand for electricity by 771 megawatts in the next five years.