Tim Harvey, director of Customer Renewable Solutions at Austin Energy, gave a wide-ranging briefing to the Resource Management Commission on the utility’s solar programs, program performance, and near-term pilots and policy issues.

Harvey said Austin Energy has supported local solar industry growth since the utility’s early programs and now counts roughly 189 megawatts of local solar on the distribution grid. He told commissioners the utility has provided more than $482 million in rebates for rebated projects over the program’s life and that the local contractor pool has grown from four vendors in the early 2000s to roughly 72 contractors today. Harvey said about 1,400 rebated customers and roughly 17,000 customers overall have solar at their premises.

Current programs and results
- Community and shared solar: Austin Energy operates community solar projects (Palmer Event Center, La Loma, airport) and a shared-solar/multifamily pilot now in mainstream enrollment. Harvey said the community solar program is fully subscribed and the utility seeks a roughly 50/50 balance of market-rate and CAP (income-qualified) customers.
- Commercial standard offer: Launched in January, the commercial standard-offer program pays third-party owners directly for community-solar host sites. Harvey said about 8.25 megawatts were under construction or about to begin construction and another ~15 megawatts were in the queue.
- Annual installations: Fiscal-year 2025 was a record for Austin Energy’s rebate program, with about 18.8 megawatts installed versus roughly 16 megawatts the prior year.

Emerging pilots and customer programs
- Virtual power plant (VPP) pilot: Austin Energy plans a limited spring pilot targeting about 1,500 customers. Harvey said the city already has roughly 1,500 customer-owned batteries (about 12–14 megawatts total) and the pilot will include an upfront incentive and ongoing payments for customer participation. The upfront incentive is planned at $500 per installation, plus an ongoing per-kilowatt-year payment tied to event participation; customers will be able to opt out in real time.
- Vehicle-to-grid and batteries: Harvey said vehicle-to-grid capability could be highly impactful in the long run; he cited an industry figure that full vehicle-to-grid enablement could represent roughly 190 megawatts of dispatchable power for Austin. He also said Austin Energy is pursuing utility-scale distribution batteries and contracts in addition to customer-sited battery programs.

Codes, inspections and quality control
Harvey said Austin Energy enforces 100% inspections for solar installations, provides monthly contractor trainings and local codes coordination with Austin Fire and Development Services, and requires compliance to ensure safety and system performance. He noted work to improve interconnection guidance and to add export-limiting options that could let multiple customers share transformer capacity without forcing an expensive transformer upgrade.

End-of-life and recycling
Austin Energy has begun placing stickers on inverters and battery equipment pointing customers to panel-recycling guidance. Harvey said residential panel recycling is available in Austin Resource Recovery drop-off locations: the first 100 pounds are free and each additional pound is charged at $0.30. He said commercial recycling and contractor drop-off options remain limited; Austin Resource Recovery is leading efforts to expand commercial options and Austin Energy is discussing potential permit-fee approaches to fund recycling.

Policy, federal funding and market changes
- Value of solar and net metering: Harvey reviewed the utility’s 2012 shift from net metering to the value-of-solar rate for residential customers (later applied to commercial). He said the value-of-solar approach eliminated prior size caps and allows Austin Energy to more consistently recover avoided costs.
- Federal tax credits and grant disruptions: Harvey warned that the federal residential Investment Tax Credit is scheduled to expire Dec. 31, and commercial credits are scheduled to end Dec. 31, 2027 unless projects safe-harbor by July 4, 2026. He said the loss of a 30% federal tax credit could raise customer costs materially and that the utility is exploring lease and residential standard-offer models to preserve project economics. Harvey also said the federal Solar for All grants were pulled back; he said Austin Energy’s allocation of that program was $32 million, and the state allocation was $250 million, while a national program total of about $7 billion was referenced. He said Harris County is pursuing litigation to recover funds for Texas subrecipients; Austin Energy is currently in a holding pattern until legal resolution.

Questions from commissioners
Commissioners asked about the magnitude of vehicle-to-grid value, export limiting and transformer constraints, the mechanics of the VPP pilot and opt-out rights, incentives for new batteries ($500 upfront plus event payments), the planned VPP timeline, and whether Austin Energy might boost residential rebates to offset the loss of federal credits. Harvey said the utility is exploring lease models, residential standard offers and other approaches to maintain customer affordability; he cautioned that some lease structures can harm customers and said Austin Energy is looking at consumer-protection approaches.

Other details and outreach
Harvey said Austin Energy and its Customer Renewable Solutions (CRS) team conduct frequent outreach events and site tours (for example, La Loma) and provide school curriculum and contractor training. Commissioners were reminded of local outreach, including an Austin EcoFest event on Nov. 1 where Austin Energy is scheduled to participate.

Why it matters: The briefing highlighted the utility’s investments in distributed solar, programmatic changes to maintain affordability as federal incentives shift, a near-term VPP pilot and active work on grid-integration measures such as export limiting and battery programs. Harvey warned that federal grant rollbacks and tax-credit expirations may slow adoption unless new financing or utility program models are adopted.

Next steps: Harvey said Austin Energy plans additional stakeholder work on the standard-offer portfolio and intends to return to commissions with more details. Commissioners requested a follow-up briefing on the VPP and battery incentives (suggested for February) and a presentation on the value-of-solar changes and societal-benefit calculation (also suggested for February).