SA seeking jobs through solar power expansion

City would be in top tier

David Crossley, Aug 29, 11.

San Antonio’s CPS Energy stunned the solar industry last month by upping its request for solar power from 50 megawatts to 400 megawatts, enough to power 80,000 homes and put the Alamo City in the top tier of solar users around the globe, according to a story in the Austin American-Statesman. The municipally owned utility also added a twist: The bids that are to be awarded later this month won’t be judged on price alone.

San Antonio’s leadership is now using CPS Energy’s purchasing power to demand jobs as a condition of doing business with the utility.

If it can become a clean energy hub, the city might be able to lure hundreds — if not thousands — of new jobs, San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro says.

“San Antonio can be for the new energy economy what Silicon Valley is to software and what Boston is to biotech,” Castro said in June as he announced that five energy-related companies plan to relocate a couple of hundred jobs to San Antonio. MORE