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It’s a good start that, since June 2019, the Dallas Independent School District (Dallas ISD) has been purchasing all its electricity for existing buildings with Renewable  Energy Certificates (RECs) for Texas wind power. This helps to support clean, renewable wind power in Texas, which doesn’t produce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions like that from fossil fueled electricity.

Unfortunately, Dallas ISD turned down an opportunity earlier in 2019 to help ensure a new solar farm would be built near Dallas to supply them renewable electricity at 3.0¢/kWh (not including delivery charges, taxes and fees) for twelve years.  Instead, Dallas ISD signed a 10 year contract with Reliant Energy to purchase electricity at 3.29¢/kWh (not including delivery charges, taxes and fees) from the Texas grid—around 25% of Texas grid power is generated with renewable energy—and then purchase Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from existing Texas wind generators to claim they are using 100% renewable electricity.  The district pays 0.29¢/kWh (9.7%) more for the grid electricity than if the new solar farm had been built!  Dallas ISD’s electricity purchase contract had no EPA defined “impact” on making the Texas Power Grid greener. This contract also was not fully transparent, unlike the contract they turned down for an aggregated renewable Power Purchase Agreement through the electricity sources services for the State Comptroller’s Statewide Procurement Division. 

Going forward, to further “green” Dallas ISD’s electricity for new buildings, on-site solar photovoltaic (PV) panels and battery storage are needed and can provide renewable electricity at lower total cost and provide power and resilience during grid blackouts. On-site and off-site solar, if added, can also be used to charge electric school buses and, with vehicle to grid capabilities, can help with time of use energy management, potentially reducing costs and contributing to a more resilient Texas energy grid.