I enjoyed the upbeat and lively discussion at the Buenas Tardes Luncheon “The State of Current Business” held in Mission on Thursday, August 13.
Government and business leaders spoke proudly about our growing population and all the amazing amenities – international bridges, seaports, SpaceX, airports, warehouses, highways, higher education and school districts, strong financial institutions, hotels, restaurants, and agricultural production of fresh fruits and vegetables.
And if we include both sides of our Rio Grande/Rio Bravo border, we also have RioPlex, a huge binational territory of business opportunity.
We are very blessed. Yes, some are more blessed than others, and yes, we all recognize that we have our challenges, including poverty, hunger, illiteracy, a water shortage, and a health system that depletes retirees of their life savings when faced with a major illness.
But when we consider what else we have going for us in the Rio Grande Valley, it becomes very apparent that we have two additional assets: sunshine and rooftops.
Imagine a Valley full of solar panels installed on every roof, generating electricity for our Texas grid year-round.
Imagine residual income being generated for rich families and for poor families, for businesses and non-profits, for schools and for churches, and even for governments. All would receive the same price per kwt for selling their excess energy to the grid.
Only one problem. We do not have a system for paying cash to roof owners for their excess electricity using solar panels.
In Texas, we have a system of giving credit to the customer for the electricity produced and consumed by the household, and some customers will be given “credit” for the excess production. This credit accumulates – never being paid out until the contract is ended with the company.
It makes sense that powerful energy companies do not want to make cash payments to their customers who have solar panels.
But if everyone with a roof could receive residual payments, we would have an infusion of income that would lift families out of poverty and reduce the need for school taxes and city taxes and county taxes and maybe even tariffs – just because we have abundant sunshine and enough solar panels to produce what is consumed under the roof, with the excess energy going to the grid and turning into cash.
A few years ago, customers with solar panels used to receive checks for their excess production, but suddenly this option was stopped and turned into the credit system.
If any elected official were interested in helping families move out of poverty, perhaps a government-supported program of solar panel installation could be proposed where the cost of the solar panels would be paid back through the excess electricity production.
Come to think of it, this would also help roof owners with student loans pay back their debt over time by producing electricity in a Valley full of sunshine!
Editor’s Note: The above guest column was penned by Dr. Elaine Hernandez, district governor for D5930, Rotary International. The column appears in the Rio Grande Guardian with the permission of the author.
