Austin staff to issue RFP for solar on city facilities, aiming for up to 25 MW to capture federal tax credits

City staff told the Climate, Water, Environment and Parks Committee on Dec. 2 that they will issue a request for proposals in the coming weeks seeking developers to install solar across dozens of municipal properties, with a preliminary estimate of roughly 75 sites and as much as 25 megawatts of capacity.

"Over the course of the last 5 months, we have analyzed over 250 city facilities for solar potential," said Zach Bauer, director of Austin Climate Action and Resilience, who led the presentation. Staff narrowed the list to about 120 candidate sites and said initial financial modeling shows a potential positive net present value to the city, but the details will depend on bids.

City staff emphasized urgency tied to federal tax policy. "Our project would need to commence construction by...July 4 to access" the 30% tax credit, Bauer said, citing safe-harbor rules that permit a 4-year completion window once a 5% expenditure is made. He added, "Time is of the essence to…