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

Energy Secretary Steven Chu has selected a team from the University of New Mexico and Arizona State University to compete in next year's solar decathlon. The team will be building solar-powered, energy-efficient homes that combine affordability, consumer appeal and good design.

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Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who sustained a traumatic brain injury in a shooting last January, has announced she will step down from Congress in order to continue her recovery. Throughout her service, Giffords was among the House's strongest advocates for solar energy.

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It looks like the kind of simple setup you'd see in an Ikea showroom. But the model house built this week at Tempe Town Lake spotlights German innovations so advanced that they slash household energy use by at least 90 percent.

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The state's second-largest utility is opening its Community Solar program to businesses for the first time, allowing them to buy power from portions of the 20-megawatt Copper Crossing Solar Ranch photovoltaic power plant in Florence. The solar plant already supplies power to homes and schools. Now, Salt River Project has allocated about half of its output to businesses, said Debbie Kimberly, director of customer programs and marketing for the utility.

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(Original Article December 27, 2011)
At its power plant along Interstate 10 on the south side, Tucson Electric Power Co. is dismantling a massive old fuel-oil storage tank to make room for a promising renewable-energy project. The work, visible from the freeway, could be seen as a symbol of the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy - but it's really an object lesson in how they can work together.

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How do you find the answer to that this burning question?

Easy, you use the Renewable Energy Atlas, a new mapping tool created by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado.

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People who know about renewable energy are probably also aware of wind forecasting-workers who set up meteorological equipment to measure when, where and how strongly the wind will blow at the site of a proposed wind farm. Knowing this information can make wind turbines and the power they produce more economical and reliable. The same can be said of knowing when and where the sun will shine, if you are the developer of a solar energy facility. The people you sell your energy to need to know they can rely on the resource you are responsible for-something you might not be certain of yourself if you don't have the kind of information that solar forecasting can put at your fingertips.

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The Solar Energy Industries Association and the Solar Alliance , two national industry groups, are merging. However, it's probably not going to have a major impact in Arizona in the short term. SEIA, based in Washington, is bringing in the Solar Alliance to head up a new state affairs division that will work solar issues in various states.

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During a discussion about how to configure new ambulances, one issue was the PharmGuard drug boxes. The PharmGuard Medication Safety box has a thermal heat pump that can maintain a 78-degree F temperature for drugs that are supposed to be stored at room temperature. Room temperature in the Phoenix area can be higher than drug manufacturers have in mind when they label their products. In the past, crews placed a couple of ice packs in the drug box. On very hot days, the ice packs might not make it through an entire shift. Chris Medrea, market general manager of East Valley operations, was mulling over the issue when he said, "Solar power." After the words were out of his mouth, he realized that harnessing the power of the sun was a viable option since Phoenix, called the Valley of the Sun, averages 296 sunny and partly sunny days each year.

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Attention Contractors:

As you will recall, SRP set up a declining incentive schedule tied to how much solar capacity is added through the program this fiscal year (May 1, 2011 - April 30, 2012). Specifically, SRP set aside funding for a total of 1.1 megawatts (MW) of small commercial solar electric installations and 4.5 MW of residential solar electric installations through April 30, 2012. The incentive level for both programs was structured with a declining incentive that began at $1.35 per watt for the first segment of installations, adjusts to $1.20 per watt for the second segment of installations, ending at $1.00 per watt for the remaining segment of installations.
We have reached the second cap for both the small commercial and residential solar electric programs, which means the incentive level for small commercial electric installations and residential solar electric installations has been reduced to $1.00 per watt from $1.20 per watt. We will honor the $1.20 per watt incentive level for all small commercial and residential customers who submitted complete and accurate applications prior to this announcement.

If you have an application that has not yet been submitted to SRP, please note that the incentive level will now be $1.00 per watt. This incentive level must be reflected on the application.
If you have any questions, please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at (602) 236-4661.
Thank you,
SRP EarthWise^TM Solar Energy

Three blocks of solar panels totaling 42 megawatts (MW) have been installed at its Mesquite Solar 1 project and are now delivering renewable electricity to the power grid. Construction on the 150-MW photovoltaic solar installation in Arlington, Arizona , located about 40 miles west of Phoenix , began in June 2011. Sempra Generation anticipates that the project will be completed in early 2013.

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In a policy shift that could affect many solar-energy users, Arizona regulators for the first time will levy small monthly fees on those who receive utility rebates for solar energy. The state's utilities charge monthly renewable-energy tariffs to help them pay for solar-panel rebates and to purchase alternative energy to meet the state requirement that they get 15 percent of their power from such sources by 2025. Because the fees are based on energy use, once customers go solar, they don't pay much of a renewable-energy tariff.

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Well we don't get a white Christmas in Arizona very often, but how about a green Christmas? That's right, one valley man is using the sun to make the holidays just a little bit brighter for everyone.

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Arizona Public Service Co. customers are getting a rare, 21-cent decrease in their bills next year because of the falling price of solar panels and savings the company has made in its renewable-energy program. The utility charges a monthly tariff on customer bills that funds everything from rebates for people who put solar panels on their homes to contracts to buy energy from wind farms and other alternative power plants.

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The Global Institute of Sustainability (GIOS) at Arizona State University is one of the players on the Governor's Office of Energy Policy team tapped by the U.S. Department of Energy's SunShot Initiative to identify and eliminate barriers to easy and affordable rooftop solar installation. Gov. Jan Brewer announced this month that the Arizona team received a $710,000 grant from DOE, the first-year award in a three-year $2.8 million initiative, with the goal of developing processes to lower costs by identifying best practices in finance, permitting and zoning.

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The Arizona Corporation Commission will decide the fate of Arizona Public Service Co.'s 2012 renewable energy plan this week, and with it the potential fate of a wide swath of the solar industry as well. The ACC on Tuesday will pick from among five potential plans. Three were proposed by APS and two proposed by staff.

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Stored energy is the ability to take generated electricity and store in a form where it can be used later, on-demand, as needed. This is especially important for renewable energy. Wind and solar plants need to be able to store power for use when the wind has stopped blowing or when the sun isn't out. The variability of renewable energy production is one of its biggest challenges now. The ability to store that power is essential for renewable energy to become a reality, with grid-scale storage everywhere.

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