New Reliant Energy plan lets Texas customers support solar energy, without the panels
Monday October 24, 2016
The company’s 100% Solar 12 plan is effectively an investment in Reliant’s ability to support renewable energy, but there is no way the company can guarantee that it will deliver solar-produced power to a building not equipped with solar panels. Instead, the plan allows Reliant to procure the rights to that energy through renewable energy credits. A credit represents the value of energy produced by solar power–say, the value of 1,000 kilowatts–but not the solar energy itself.
Reliant said the plan is still a way  for customers to participate in solar without having to make the expensive jump to installing solar panels, said Kosta Zujic, the director of innovation for Reliant and its parent company, NRG Energy. He added that all of the credits Reliant buys for the program will come from Texas-produced solar energy.
Zujic compared the plan to buying the value of solar energy in bulk–there is no concern that cloudy days will mean less power for individuals on the plan. The fixed individual price of the plan will vary for customers depending on their location and the costs of transmission and distribution. The underlying energy rate, however, will be the same for all, Zujic said.
Reliant customers can visit this website to sign up for the fixed-rate plan.
Reliant will likely be adding other benefits to the solar plan in the future, Zujic said. NRG Energy has recently agreed to acquire solar projects from bankrupt SunEdison in Texas and other states.