Houston Mayor Bill White is expected to throw a ceremonial switch later this month to start up a pair of new solar systems that will help power the city’s vast George R. Brown Convention Center. Together, they will produce 100 kilowatts of emission-free, sun-generated electricity.
In themselves, the solar panels atop the downtown landmark make up a significant renewable energy project, intended to cut operational costs at a major municipal facility. Beyond that, however, the panels also prominently represent a much broader solar effort, which the Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) is managing for the city.
It’s called the Solar Houston Initiative and is, in turn, part of the nationwide Solar America Cities partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy and a select group of municipalities that is aimed at speeding up the adoption of solar technologies at the local level.
HARC’s leading role in the Solar Houston Initiative started over a year ago, said Rich Haut, a HARC senior research scientist working with the city to facilitate the joint effort, which also involves other participants in a collaborative public-private partnership.
"In January 2008, I wrote the proposal on behalf of the city for Houston to be named one of only 25 Solar America Cities by U.S. Department of Energy," he said.
The Solar Houston Initiative is a multifaceted undertaking.
"We are developing and implementing a comprehensive plan that includes everything from workforce development and K-12 education and public outreach to high-visibility projects, policy and residential applications," Haut said.
In the area of public outreach, for instance, HARC designed an interactive Web site for the Solar Houston Initiative, where visitors can take a virtual tour of solar installations around the Houston area and learn about solar-system installers. The site is still a work in progress, with plans to add information about best practices and incentives for solar projects.
Chris Boyer, CTO of Standard Renewable Energy, with Rich Haut of HARC |
Haut believes the Solar Houston Initiative has great potential - not just in helping to expand awareness and adoption of an important source of clean, renewable energy, but also in fostering new employment opportunities in a metropolitan area where conventional energy production has been an economic mainstay since early in the 20th century.
"The solar energy industry is small, having only 35,000 jobs nationwide according to the trade organizations. This compares to wind, which has approximately 85,000 jobs, and to the oil and gas industry, with over a million jobs," he said.
"The energy industry in Houston is large and the Solar Houston Initiative will add to the energy job mix in the greater Houston area," he added. "The Solar Pilot Project at the George R. Brown is the one of several high-visibility installations that will demonstrate how Houston is the energy capital - not only today, but tomorrow as well."
When the convention center project was announced last fall, White's office said it would be "one of the largest (solar) installations in the region and is the start of a 'green' roof vision and master plan" for the structure.
Installation of the two, 50-kilowatt solar systems on the 16-acre roof of the convention center was funded primarily by an $850,000 grant from Houston Endowment, Inc., a leading philanthropic foundation. Other funding was provided by the Houston Architecture Foundation ($10,000), American Institute of Architects - Houston Chapter ($10,000), and BP ($100,000), for a total budget of $970,000.
An event inaugurating the systems is scheduled for July 30. When the mayor turns them on, that act will mark the completion of the first two of four key objectives outlined at the start of the George R. Brown project.
The first was designing and installing two solar systems, adding up to a 100-kilowatt capacity, that would complement the convention center’s sustainability plan. Second was the introduction of a visible system that demonstrates to all observers how an existing structure can be retrofitted for solar energy.
The other two objectives relate to a planned research project - which has received initial funding from CenterPoint Energy - to assess and compare how the two systems operate.
The first research objective involves collecting, interpreting and reporting data that may be used to determine how well the different systems endure the Houston environment. The second calls for providing this information on the systems’ durability and performance to architects, engineers and other stakeholders.
The research findings would especially aid in the possible expansion of the convention center’s solar capability to one megawatt - a ten-fold increase in generation capacity from the current 100 kilowatts. The team involved in the initial project is already seeking funding to plan and carry out such an enlargement.
