Greenville Electric Utility System (GEUS) has partnered with SunGrid Power to own and operate four community solar facilities in Greenville, expanding local generation capacity while providing long-term cost stability for customers.
GEUS has pursued the Community Solar Project for more than five years. The project timeline is increasingly important due to anticipated changes to federal tax incentives expected later this summer, the Texas public power utility noted.
The project has received endorsements from the Greenville Board of Development (GBOD) and the GEUS Board of Trustees.
SunGrid will invest more than $20 million in the facilities and is not requesting tax breaks from Hunt County, Hunt Regional Healthcare, Greenville ISD, or the City of Greenville.
The project will add two new properties to the local tax roll, with the four facilities expected to generate up to $200,000 annually in new tax revenue — more than $4 million over the life of the project.
The addition of approximately 10 megawatts (MW), or about 8% of GEUS’s generation portfolio, will help support future energy demand, helping protect customers from future system cost increases.
SunGrid operates similar solar facilities south of Greenville for Farmers Electric Cooperative (FEC) and maintains an operations center in Weiland, Texas. The company also offers an apprenticeship program focused on hiring and developing a skilled local workforce.
Each site was selected to minimize visibility and is located at least one-quarter mile from residential structures or includes natural tree screening. The properties are also located on land unlikely to support other development due to floodplains, rights-of-way, or existing utility pipelines.
SunGrid uses highly hail-resistant solar panels designed to withstand hail up to two inches in diameter. The company operates approximately 20,000 panels within 15 miles of Greenville and has experienced only one hail-damaged panel in the past three years.
