The CPS Energy board is set to reconvene in January and act on a recommendation a panel from the city of San Antonio-owned utility made in December regarding the CPS Energy’s next generation of power resources.

Trustees met Dec. 19 for an initial discussion about a recommendation from the utility’s Rate Advisory Committee, which on Dec. 15 formally proposed what is called “Portfolio 2,” a mix of natural gas, solar and wind as well as resource storage additions.

This selection was made after months of meetings with CPS Energy, consultants and a series of community engagement efforts, a news release said.

The RAC studied nine different portfolios, each with a diverse set of technologies to serve the expected energy demand of the growing community, the release said.

Over the last few months, over 50 data sets have been analyzed as well as different market scenarios, such as extreme weather and conservation, CPS Energy officials said, adding that Portfolio 2 accounts for a phase-out of the utility’s use of coal by the end of the 2020s.

“The RAC is making a recommendation to the board for Portfolio 2, which eliminates coal from our generation portfolio by 2028 and adds quick-start generation to increase our reliability,” RAC Chair Reed Williams said in a statement.

CPS Energy Trustee Francine Romero called the RAC’s work a robust process.

“I am thankful to have been part of this process and look forward to future discussions with my fellow trustees,” Romero said.

CPS Energy officials said the generation planning process shapes how CPS Energy will power the community going forward, and aims at selecting the best combination of power generation resources to replace aging generation assets while meeting the city’s climate goals, maintaining reliability and keeping bills competitively-priced.

The planning process takes into account the age of existing generation assets, the future of coal plants, potential customer bill impacts, projected growth in the nation’s fastest-growing city, and other factors, the release said.

CPS Energy has engaged with the community through a series of events surrounding generation planning. During morning and evening open houses, customers engaged with subject matter experts on a variety of topics ranging from power generation to environmental efforts, and much more, the release said.

Customers were also encouraged to participate in a tele-town hall and in a customer survey.

At the Dec. 19 board meeting, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said CPS Energy’s next generation of power resources is just one step toward helping the city meet its long-range Climate Action Plan and goals of reducing the community’s carbon footprint.

“We knew full well that as we adopted the CAP as a community, there would be goals that we would not know how to achieve at that moment, and we’re still working on that. This is a work in progress,” Nirenberg said.