So-lar, so good. Solar power and Austin.

The sun shines a lot in Central Texas. In Austin it shines on the shores of Lady Bird Lake and the larger-than-life statue of rock guitar maestro Stevie Ray Vaughan (the dead local hero icon who ironically symbolizes Austin’s live music reputation).

Now, thanks to Austin’s progressive City Council, the ”Live Music Capital of the World” has its eyes set on becoming the Solar Energy Capital of the World.

On March 5^th, 2009  the City of Austin approved (by a 7-0 council vote) its utility, Austin Energy, to contract San Francisco-based Gemini Solar to build a 300 acre solar array (which will be the US’ largest) on property the power utility already owns. The project is set to more than double the generating capacity of the array at that is operating at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, the current largest solar plant in the US — which is also operated by Gemini.

It would also put Austin well on its way to achieving the city’s goal of producing 30% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020. If all goes according to plan, Austin Energy would be the array’s exclusive client, paying a flat rate of $10 million a year for 25 years. The project is expected to pull in enough of the sun’s energy to power 5,000 homes, and it could be up and running by late 2010. The project should result in at least 600 local construction jobs.

The solar system will use Suntech polycrystalline silicon solar panels. The panels will be ground-mounted in groups on single-axis trackers, and will rotate east to west throughout the day, following the sun, in order to harvest optimum solar energy.

Proponents of the plant point to the long term benefits

• no greenhouse gas emissions
• green jobs
• an abundant energy supply
• peak production that coincides with peak power demand times (3pm-6pm on those brutally hot summer days)
• the rapid decline in the costs of solar technology over time with greater adoption and use

Now, there are naysayers grumbling about the short-term higher costs, the uncertainty of solar power as a proven alternative to coal or nuclear plants, but the greening of Austin seems inevitable as long as its citizens elect “Green” candidates to Council. The current mayor, Will Wynn, led The United States Conference of Mayors‘ meeting when it unanimously voted in June 2008 for a resolution endorsing a 30% increase in the energy efficiency of new residential buildings in cities across the country. Sitting Austin City Council member and leading Mayoral candidate (the election is in May 2009) Brewster McCracken is running on a Clean Energy platform: we can innovate in clean energy and put solar on 100,000 Austin homes and businesses over the next 10 years.”

Advocates are hoping that solar and other green energy technologies will provide a boost to the local economy in the way that semiconductors and PCs boosted Austin’s economy in the 1980 and 1990s.

And that is something that even that old night owl Stevie Ray might really have appreciated.