The redeveloped Pearl Brewery is more than just another metal building renovation. It will soon be the biggest solar energy project in Texas.

Silver Ventures, the developer of the landmark former brewery, plans to install solar panels atop an old metal storage building and warehouse that's being renovated for offices, retail and residential space.

The panels, to be installed by year's end, will supplant what is now the state's biggest solar project, at Fort Sam Houston.

The brewery's $1.35 million solar project will be paid for with $950,000 from Silver Ventures and $400,000 from CPS Energy, the city-owned utility. They announced their plans Monday.

The panels will be capable of generating 200 kilowatts, or about one-fourth of the power needed in the steel building, an L-shaped structure of 67,000 square feet. The solar power will supplement electricity from CPS Energy.

The commercial steel building's heating and air conditioning will be set up and handled by the most up-to-date system available, according to Bob Sohn, a lawyer and former Design San Antonio leader advising Silver Ventures on the Pearl Brewery development.

The project has been almost two years in the making, and is part of Silver Ventures' efforts to ensure that the metal building is a good steward of resources.

CPS Energy hopes the Silver Ventures agreement will serve as a model for other economically viable commercial steel building uses of solar power.

"We've had a goal of testing solar energy technology in a real-world setting," said Paula Miles, CPS Energy director of energy research and technology initiatives.

"Public-private partnerships are going to become the way to get things done. And this, for us, is one of our first forays into that brave new world."

The renovated metal building includes 40,000 square feet of office space, 12,500 square feet of retail / restaurant space, and 10,864 square feet of residential space.

"It was a massive warehouse where finished beer was taken," said Bill Shown, Silver Ventures' managing director of real estate.

Only the steel building frame, or skeleton, as well as the concrete foundation and roof deck, remain at the present time.

The residential metal building has eight two-story studio apartments, ranging from 650 to 1,300 square feet. Each ground floor is designed for use as an artist's studio, the second floor for living space.

The offices and apartments will help make the solar installation a real-world learning lab, Silver Ventures and CPS Energy say.

Visitors to the steel building will be able to learn more about how solar power works, including seeing real-time information about the amount of solar energy the rooftop panels are generating, Sohn said.

That aspect, officials confidently believe, will set this metal building apart from the city's other big solar installation.

"The problem with the military's installation at Fort Sam is that it's not as open and available to the public as the one at Pearl will be," said the executive director of Solar San Antonio, a nonprofit organization that seeks to increase use of solar power.

"Pearl Brewery's solar will become a bit of a tourist stop in its own right," Bill Barker said of the renovated metal building.

"Visitors to the site will want to see the largest solar installation in the state. It's pretty smart on Pearl's part to realize that this adds value to what they're doing there."