The Dallas City Council voted to approve a contract to build a solar panel and battery system for a recreation center as a part of the City’s push to become greener.
During the council meeting on May 24, the body passed an item to authorize City Manager T.C. Broadnax to execute a $975,000 contract to install a “solar photovoltaic and battery energy storage system at Bachman Recreation Center,” according to the resolution.
The work will be done by Ameresco, which was the “most advantageous proposer of three.” Ameresco describes itself as “a leading cleantech integrator and renewable energy asset developer, owner and operator.”
“Ameresco has successfully completed energy saving, environmentally responsible projects with Federal, state and local governments, K12 school districts, college campuses, healthcare institutions, airports, housing authorities, and commercial and industrial customers,” the company explains on its website.
A solar photovoltaic (PV) system generally refers to the recognizable solar panels that convert the sun’s rays into energy. In order to store and then dispatch that energy, batteries are used.
The nearly $1 million taxpayer-funded initiative would seek to make the Bachman Recreation Center more environmentally sustainable. The center is located on the north side of Bachman Lake, which borders Dallas Love Field Airport.
This item was undertaken and approved as a part of Dallas’ Comprehensive Environmental & Climate Plan, which was approved in 2020. The plan seeks to accomplish a 43% decrease in the City’s emissions by 2030 compared to the levels recorded in 2015.
The Dallas Climate Action dashboard notes that current targets include making “Dallas’ buildings … energy-efficient and climate resilient.” Furthermore, the plan includes a goal for Dallas to generate and use “renewable, reliable, and affordable energy.”
The City hopes to have “739,000 kW and 3,695,000 kW solar power installed within the City by 2030 and 2050, respectively.”
Critics have pointed to green energy sources as being potentially unreliable and have claimed that the policies favoring green energy over other power sources contributed to the Texas grid’s failure during the 2021 winter storm.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation suggested that “after decades of overinvestment in unreliable renewable energy generation and underinvestment in reliability measures, the electric grid was strained beyond its ability to provide Texans with steady power supply.”
“Renewables are essentially ‘uncontrollable’ supply resources,” according to industry expert Harshit Chatur. “When the wind isn’t blowing, turbines do not produce either. Diminished conditions, including shading, clouds and dust for solar and light breezes for wind power all reduce energy production from renewable assets.”