NEWS FROM TEPRI
May 2023
A Note From The Executive Director
Margo Weisz
Today I want to thank our Members, and to explain why your engagement is so deeply important to our work.
TEPRI’s members represent a spectrum of large and small energy and community stakeholders who are supporting meaningful energy solutions for all people. Together, we are navigating a complex energy environment to address the distinct priorities of people who contend with low-incomes.
We are demonstrating new pathways that will be the key to more scalable adoption of energy efficiency, solar, storage, and new demand response and virtual power plant technologies.
Our members support three critical and primary activities:
Production of the annual Community Voices in Energy Survey (CVES)
Investment in the expansion of our work
Connection to a broad coalition of energy partners who are working together toward a vision of affordable, reliable and clean energy for all
The CVES provides original, comprehensive, and seminal research on Texas’ low-income households’ relationship to energy. CVES provides a clear understanding of peoples’ energy priorities across their different socioeconomic profiles. Understanding the lived experiences of households, especially those with elderly, children, and those with disabilities, provides tremendous insight for developing pathways forward.
The CVES is currently being conducted across the 13 energy districts as identified by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA). We will be releasing 13 regional reports and a statewide summary this June.
Our members also invest in expanding TEPRI’s work. The great majority of our funding is provided for distinct projects. This can hamstring our decisions to continue meaningful projects that have gone past project timelines, engage in research that is a bedrock to our decision-making, or cover the upfront costs associated with building our capacity. The support from our members gives us the needed resources to explore new opportunities, to share our findings, and to invest in our systems and staff so we can operate at our peak.
Lastly, our members represent a diversity of expertise, perspectives, and interests. Each of us is motivated to act, to learn, and to engage to ensure a healthy, functioning energy landscape that serves all people. Over the next decade, Texas will need to make strategic energy changes to improve grid stability and hasten the transition to cleaner sources of energy. Together we want to ensure an equitable energy transition. TEPRI is a gathering place for each of us to contribute our unique talents to collectively build the future we strive for.
On behalf of our Board and Staff, I truly thank you for your partnership! Our members are part of our DNA, and we are grateful for your support of the vision to include all Texans in our energy future.
I invite each of you to join us!
Warmly,
Margo
News From TEPRI
Promising Innovations for Our Energy Future
2023 Energy Opportunities Speaker Series
Join TEPRI in Austin on June 7th at 11 AM for our first in-person event on Promising Innovations for Our Energy Future. To support the clean energy transition, the Texas energy market will be going through a major transformation that includes aggregating the various local distributed energy resources (ADERs) including solar, battery storage, and wind to address the growing demand. TEPRI wants to make sure the benefits of these ADERs and innovations reach low-income households.
Our in-person event will include a discussion by Commissioner McAdams on policy measures to support rapid ADER adoption and implementation in Texas and how energy equity stakeholders may benefit from the current and upcoming policy measures. A panel of subject matter experts who are all on the ADER Public Utility Commission (PUC) taskforce will also help you better understand the growing benefits of ADERs for democratizing energy access and addressing energy burdens for households.
TEPRI Project Highlight in Carrizo Springs, TX
The Villa de Reposo community is owned by Community Service Agency of South Texas and provides housing to elderly residents of Carrizo Springs.
TEPRI has a number of solar demonstration projects around the state aimed at addressing barriers and developing solutions for equitable solar adoption for all income-levels. As part of an NREL SEIN Initiative, a diverse group of energy stakeholders set out to create viable pathways to increase rooftop solar adoption at no cost to low-income households by using existing utility rebate programs paired with federal, state, or/and local sources.
Working with Frontier Energy, The Community Services Agency of South Texas, and AEP, we were able to braid utility rebates and existing public program dollars to put small-scale solar on affordable homes in Carizzo Springs, thereby reducing energy costs for residents.
TEPRI Welcomes New Member
Trinity River Community Solar Systems
Trinity River Community Solar Systems (TRCSS) joined TEPRI to collaborate on developing community solar projects, particularly in deregulated areas of Texas, with a focus on serving low- to moderate-income (LMI) communities. Community solar projects allow groups of people to collectively own or subscribe to a solar panel installation, typically located nearby, and receive a share of the energy produced. This can be a good option for individuals or families who may not have suitable roofs for solar panels or who cannot afford to install their own panels. Community solar can help to increase access to clean energy and lower energy costs for LMI communities.
Member Spotlight
Austin Energy
The City of Austin offers a one of the most robust customer assistant programs (CAP) in the nation to help residential customers who face temporary or long-term financial difficulties, as well as serious medical problems. Austin Energy has a long history of working with low-income customers to improve energy efficiency, including up to $10,000 toward weatherization assistance for qualifying customers.
Austin Energy builds on the environmental benefits of solar generation by bringing local solar projects and solar access to all through the Community Solar Program. This program expands solar offerings to those unable to purchase rooftop solar, and CAP customers may participate with no upfront costs and potential bill savings. The utility’s electric vehicles program promotes social and environmental justice by creating a future of mobility that is clean, accessible and affordable with a focus on vulnerable communities.
“Ensuring people and communities are not left behind and promoting environmental health and wellness are at the forefront of our outreach efforts,” said Richard Génecé, Austin Energy Vice President for Customer Energy Solutions. “These programs are enhanced and supported by dedicated individuals throughout the city, and we are proud of the difference we are making towards sustainability and prosperity, especially for our historically underserved communities.”
In Case You Missed It
TEPRI Presentation at DOE Road to Energy Justice: Funding and Engagement Workshop
TEPRI, in collaboration with come dream. come build. (CBCB) and bcworkshop, is helping to spearhead an effort to expand access to solar energy and storage for low-to-moderate income households in South Texas. The initiative builds off the success of CDCB and bcworkshop’s MiCASiTA program, which is a breakthrough modular housing initiative which seeks to deliver affordable and energy efficient modular homes to families across South Texas. This groundbreaking program offers buyers a homeownership pathway in which energy efficiency and affordability are prioritized while simultaneously offering residents the ability to add additional modules, or ‘boxes’, to their home over the years as their need for additional space grows.
Residents in the greater Rio Grande Valley area currently face one of the least affordable homeownership markets when home prices and median incomes are compared. TEPRI is working with the MiCASiTA team to expand their current offerings to include an affordable and resilient solar energy option to help offset rising energy costs and provide a supplemental source of energy generation and storage. TEPRI is leading the charge in developing solar options that meet the differing needs of future MiCASiTA homebuyers, exploring unique financing options, and ensuring that the solar installations are successful over the long term.
As part of this initiative, Andrew Robison, TEPRI’s research analyst, had the opportunity to present as part of the Department of Energy’s Road to Energy Justice: Funding and Engagement Workshop in Brownsville on April 13. The presentation highlighted TEPRI’s work in South Texas, focused on key energy indicators in the region, and explored opportunities for future engagement with local stakeholders. Members of the DOE delegation, including Shalanda H. Baker, director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity and secretary advisor on equity for the agency, also had the opportunity to tour “The Farm” – the modular housing build site in Los Fresnos run by CBCB) for its MiCASiTA housing initiative.
The workshop and the MiCASiTA housing initiative was featured by myRGV.com. Click here to read the article.
Webinar Recap: Energy Opportunities Speakers Series with Jiachen Li and Ignacio Juarez
On March 7, 2023, TEPRI hosted guest speakers Ignacio Juarez, co-founder and CEO of Semtive, and Jiachen Li, PhD, co-inventor of the Temperature-Adaptive Radiative Coating (TARC) smart roof coating.
Both inventors share how they developed energy systems that help democratize energy access and reduce energy burden for low-moderate income (LMI) households. They discussed the specifications of their systems and how they can be applied in the Texas energy market, and outlined the next steps for deployment amid the growing need for energy reliability and efficiency.
We hope you got to join the webinar – if you were unable to join, you can click the link below to watch.
TEPRI Offers Community Benefits Planning
Our Community Benefits planning process is informed by the results of our comprehensive Community Voices Energy Survey, as well as a tailored community needs assessments (CNAs) for each geographic area and project. We measure key indicators and gather valuable perspectives from low-income households to better understand the ongoing challenges surrounding energy in communities across Texas. Our Community Benefits planning allows us to accurately gauge obstacles to the deployment of successful solutions for stakeholders – directly from communities most impacted.
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