SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Public Library (SAPL) Board of Trustees will consider approving a project to install solar panels at nine branches across the city, part of an ongoing city initiative to retrofit municipal infrastructure.
The trustees, meeting Wednesday afternoon, will review the designs and weigh approval for the installation.
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The move is part of the city’s ongoing efforts to install solar panel infrastructure at 42 city facilities. Scott Williams, SAPL’s marketing manager, confirmed this in an email to KSAT on Tuesday.
Trustees will consider designs at the nine branches during their meeting on Wednesday afternoon. The board would consider details regarding a project at the Carver branch at a later time, Williams said.
SAPL partnered with San Antonio’s Office of Sustainability to help bring the projects online; the first branch to receive the treatment was the Igo Library.
“For the construction of the solar arrays at Igo Branch Library, there was no impact to public service and minimal impact to the parking lot as the solar canopy was constructed,” Williams said.
See the map below for where installations could occur.
How did we get here?
In November 2023, city council approved the $30 million project.
“This will be the largest local government on-site solar project in Texas and the second-largest in the nation,” City Manager Erik Walsh said at the time.
The project supports the city’s goal of carbon neutrality on municipal buildings — San Antonio has set a goal to reach this by 2040 — and combines local and state funding for clean energy incentives.
Almost a year after council approved it, the project was officially commissioned with six projects.
Those projects were:
- Pre-K 4 SA’s East Education Center
- Southside Lions Senior Center
- Sonny Melendrez Community Center
- Southwest Service Center
- West Police Substation
- Jean Yates Community Center
As of mid-February, 14 of the 42 projects had been commissioned. Additions from the project range from installs on rooftops to parking canopies.
Williams said the [how the type of install is decided]
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