Arizona Solar Center - Your Guide to Solar and Other Renewable Energy Sources in Arizona

U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu will visit Arizona on Tuesday to pay tribute to a $25 million extension of a popular local program to help people put solar panels on their homes.

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The Solar Phoenix program was announced in November 2009 and was funded by National Bank of Arizona, with support from the city.

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Affirming its commitment to the development of renewable energy resources, the Arizona legislature recently passed legislation exempting the sale and/or use of Renewable Energy Credits (generally referred as "RECs") from Arizona's transaction privilege tax, which operates similar to a sales tax. Given that Arizona's state transaction privilege tax is over seven percent in most counties, and that city tack on an additional 2 to 3 percent tax, the decision to exempt the sale of RECs from a 10 percent tax is a significant development that should encourage the development of renewable energy in Arizona.

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From: SRPSOLARBIZ - DEPT ID < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. >
Sent: Wed, May 2, 2012 3:57 pm
Subject: Important Notice Regarding SRP Commercial Incentive Reductions

SRP's Commercial Solar Electric Program - Production Based Incentive Decreased to $0.05 per kilowatt-hour

At this time, SRP has reached its 5 megawatt cap for the first tier ($0.06 per kilowatt-hour) of projects under the Production Based Incentive (PBI) program for commercial solar electric installations. Those projects that have successfully submitted complete applications at $0.06 per kilowatt-hour have received notification via a funds reservation letter.

The PBI program for solar electric installations will now drop to $0.05 per kilowatt-hour for an additional 2.5 megawatts worth of projects. After the $0.05 per kilowatt-hour tier reaches its 2.5 megawatt capacity, the PBI incentive will drop to $0.04 per kilowatt-hour for the final 1.5 megawatt cap that was established for all installations through April 30, 2013.

Please note that a complete application package includes those items listed in Step 1 of our Process Checklist:

SRP is continuing to accept applications for its upfront commercial solar electric program for systems under 100kw at $0.50 per watt up to $50,000. SRP has set incentive levels of $0.50 per watt for the first 3.5 megawatts, $0.40 per watt for an additional 2.5 megawatts and $0.30 per watt for the final 1.5 megawatt cap that was established for all installations through April 30, 2013.

Commercial customers can check www.srpnet.com/solarbiz for answers to further questions they may have and for program updates as they become available. To answer specific questions not found on these pages regarding our commercial solar programs, e-mail the SRP commercial solar team at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .


SRP Solar Energy
Office: (602) 236-4663 | Fax: (602) 629-7985
Mail Station PAB355 | P.O. Box 52025 | Phoenix, AZ 85072-2025
www.srpnet.com/solarbiz

A group of Arizona State University Polytechnic students has partnered with SRP on a project that aims to make accessing solar and other alternative energy more reliable. A common misconception about household solar-power systems is they create a more secure power supply. The truth is that most solar households are connected to the grid and in a blackout lose power just like everyone else, even if the sun is shining.

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First Solar Inc. FSLR -6.93% fell 6.7% to $19.26 on Monday and was the biggest decliner among components of the S&P 500 Index SPX -0.86% . The solar power company drew a downgrade to sell at Maxim Group LLC, with a price target of $9 a share.

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Utilities are pumping millions of dollars into efforts to transform Phoenix-area buildings into energy-efficient structures in a move that could save both the owners and the utilities money in the long term.

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Two American solar heavyweights built on overseas manufacturing are scaling back operations in an effort to keep up with a shifting landscape. On Monday, San Jose, Calif.-based SunPower announced it was closing certain facilities. Then on Tuesday, Arizona-based First Solar announced an even more drastic move to cut operating expenses.

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Earth Day Phoenix is setting up again this year to showcase what businesses and the community are doing to be sustainable. The annual event, to be held from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. April 20 at Cesar Chavez Plaza in downtown Phoenix, has grown to feature more businesses showcasing what they offer to people and other companies looking to go green, said Tom Waldeck, executive director of Keep Phoenix Beautiful, which hosts the event.

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I learned a great fact about Arizona recently when I was in Phoenix for the Arizona Solar Summit. The state's economic priority list has historically revolved around what are known as the "Five C's": Copper, Cattle, Cotton, Citrus, and Climate. One of my takeaways from the Summit was that it's time to add a Sixth C to Arizona's priority list: Clean Energy. Because if there's one natural resource Arizona has more of than other state, it's sunshine!

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People searching for 60 massive satellite-looking solar dishes and willing to move the entire facility and reassemble it without instructions are in luck. An April 17 online auction thought to be one of the first of its kind will offer the bankrupt Maricopa Solar power plant in Peoria, which uses a rare solar-thermal technology.

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Kerr, who died April 2 in Taylor, a few miles north of Show Low, is being remembered today as one of the pioneers of the current solar-cooking movement. She was 86.

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...heading to Phoenix for a Solar Summit May 1-2, it seemed only right to take a look at how sun is doing in Arizona. "Arizona has the highest solar insolation in the country and we have a modest Renewable Energy Standard," Arizona Sierra Club Director Sandy Bahr explained. "It does have a distributed carve-out, but it's modest." And, she added, "we've seen a lot happen with solar in the last five years," ticking off growth in solar rooftops, solar power plants and community solar that has reached "even to the Sun City Recreation Centers."

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Barbara was born December 28, 1925 in North Carolina. She went to Nursing School in Washington D.C, received a B.A. from the University of Chicago and later earned a Masters Degree in Social Work from the Arizona State University. She worked for 13 years at the Maricopa County Hospital as an emergency room social worker and psychiatric nurse.

Having suffered from respiratory problems all her life, Barbara made a series of moves to cleaner air from New York City, to Delaware, to Tempe and then to Taylor in 1980. While she was in Tempe she and her friend and neighbor, Sherry Cole, developed the "Solar Box Cooker." Made of lightweight, easily obtained materials, the cooker was taken around the world.

Barbara's innovations with solar cooking have eased the lives of many hundreds of thousands of women in countless countries. Cooking with the sun saves them from hours scouring the countryside day after day for scarce wood with which to cook meals. Solar cooking makes reforestation possible and eliminates respiratory problems associated with smoky fires.

Barbara earned numerous awards for her contributions to environmental solutions and humanitarian achievements. She wrote three books, The Expanding World of Solar Box Cookers, Home Was A Windjammer and God As A Shifting Concept. She also became known for her experimental home which is a showplace for inexpensive, people-friendly solar tools and sustainable living. To assure the continuance of her work, she created the non-profit Kerr-Cole Sustainable Living Center in 2002.

Barbara is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Diana and Don Marshall, three granddaughters, Amy, Alison and Melissa, five great-grand-
children, brother-in-law Dewey Smith and her former husband, William Kerr. She was predeceased by her sister, Gwynne Smith and her best friend, Sherry Cole.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Kerr-Cole Sustainable Living Center PO Box 576 Taylor, AZ 85939. Donations may be made online at www.kerr-cole.org

Silver Creek Mortuary of Taylor was in charge of arrangements.

A feed-in tariff may never become a federal mandate, but it's enjoying a wider support among some local - particularly municipal - utilities these days. To wit: Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved a feed-in tariff program that will enable the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to buy renewable electricity from projects up to 3 MW.

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The Arizona Public Service (APS) and the State Land Department (SLD) have announced a new partnership to deliver 35MW Foothills Solar Plant on 400 acres of Arizona State Trust Lands in Yuma County. This will be the first solar project to be developed on state-owned trust lands and outlines Arizona governor Janice Brewer's plans to make Arizona a global force in the renewable energy sector.

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Arizona Public Service Co. and the Arizona State Land Department have reached an agreement on a 35-megawatt solar power plant to be built near Yuma. The move, which would have APS lease the land for 35 years at a cost of $10 million, would be the first solar project built exclusively on state trust lands.

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We have received word that Solar Cooking Pioneer Barbara Kerr passed away early in the morning, April 2nd.

Barbara, a gentle spirit who created the simple box cooker that went world-wide and positively affected people everywhere, will be sorely missed.

We will pass along more information as we receive it.

Regards,

Arizona Solar Center

The solar industry started this week with a major conference focusing on what's going on in Arizona. Turns out everyone's a little concerned. I wrote a bit about that in this week's print edition of the Phoenix Business Journal...while there was an alternately optimistic and pessimistic tone at the convention, there are some bright spots.

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With the Arizona Legislature going over machinations on whether to cap the state's renewable energy standard, it's given rise to discussions of possibly putting the measure to voters. At the second Solar Summit on Monday, that question came up to a panel discussing some of the potential stalls in Arizona's solar economy, and it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility to see petitions circulating.

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From: APS Renewable Energy < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. >
Sent: Thu, Mar 22, 2012 9:57 am
Subject: APS Residential Incentive Program Update