CPS Energy wants more than just solar panels in its backyard. The San Antonio, Texas, utility recently issued a request for proposal (RFP) for a company to build a 50-megawatt photovoltaic plant under a power-purchase agreement, and for that company to open a facility in San Antonio.

Many utilities purchase wind or solar as the states they’re in add renewable portfolio standards. That’s not the case with CPS Energy.

As a municipal utility, it’s not impacted by Texas’ current renewable generation standard, which was fully met by wind generation years ago. However, with this RFP, and its commitments to other solar projects, the company is placing itself to be complaint with state Sen. Kirk Watson’s (D) S.B. 330, which proposes a new renewable-generation standard, which would exclude wind and most likely benefit solar. The bill would require power producers to source 1,500 more megawatts of electricity from renewable resources throughout Texas.

The request for a 50-megawatt solar plant is enough to attract the interest of major solar developers, but the concurrent request to locate a facility in San Antonio is a unique component to the RFP.

Cris Eugster, CPS Energy’s chief sustainability officer, said that CPS Energy doesn’t just want the solar power from the project.

“We want to have a local component to the solar value chain in San Antonio,” he said.

According to Eugster, solar companies have shown interest in locating in San Antonio in the past.

“I think with this approach, we’re being a little more proactive, we’re saying, ‘Here’s what we have to offer,’” he said. “We see it more as an opportunity. We see the utility sector changing and transforming into more of a clean-energy model.”

The company hopes to attract the business partly by playing on its past commitments to renewable energy, which includes 859 megawatts of wind.

“We have the largest portfolio of wind among municipal utilities in the U.S,” Eugster said. “We’ve got the track record. We’ve done these projects in the past. What we’re looking at now is, can we also include economic development and still have them [i.e. renewable energy projects] competitive on a cost standpoint.”

In all, CPS Energy has 916 megawatts of renewable energy already producing or under contract.

“We have other solar projects that are happening at this point,” said spokesperson Albert Cantu.

Among them are the recently completed 14-megawatt Blue Wing Solar farm, which Cantu said is the largest in Texas, and three 10 megawatt facilities being built through a partnership with Sun Edison.

When a contract for this RFP is signed, the utility will have 94 megawatts of solar under contract to meets its goal.

“This is part of our 2020 Vision, to have 100 megawatts of solar on our grid,” he said. The 2020 Vision goal is to source 20 percent, about 1,500 megawatts, of electricity from renewable resources in the next nine years.

With the RFP, CPS Energy is interested in both domestic and international partners, according to Eugster.

However, CPS Energy is interested in a company that wants to set roots in the state.

“We’re less interested in someone who wants to just build a plant for this project.”

RFPs for the project are due May 31, 2011, and CPS plans to choose a partner and start the project before the end of the year, he said.

Image courtesy of NREL.