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

Perhaps more than any other building type, school facilities have the potential to directly enhance the user's experience through sustainable design. This is evidenced through standards for design such as the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED for Schools rating, which addresses factors affecting student health and achievement.

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• Did not come to the House Floor this week.
• Interpretation is that there is a probability that there are not currently votes enough to pass.
• Continued public expressio of concern is necesssary to let legislators know of opposition to this bill.

HB2404 prohibits local government from adopting more energy efficient building codes, which is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce energy use and save ratepayers money.

Source: Sierra Club Arizona Chapter Update for May 10, 2013

When two of Arizona’s neighbors, California and Nevada, decide to abandon coal-generated electricity in favor of renewable and natural gas, the writing is on the wall: The days of the Navajo Generating Station and other coal-fired power plants are numbered.

So why are utilities in California, Nevada, Iowa and Colorado bailing on coal while SRP is adding more? This is a fair question and the Arizonans who will get stuck with the bill deserve an honest answer.

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The solar-powered aircraft making a landmark cross-country flight successfully completed its first leg early Saturday, and will rest about a week in Arizona before taking to the skies again. Solar Impulse HB-SIA touched down about 12:30 a.m. at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix. Video footage shows the pilot, Bertrand Piccard, stepping out with a smile and a wave, holding up a flag bearing the name of the aircraft.

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Last week, Greentech Media's sixth annual Solar Summit kicked off with a session entitled "Thriving Amidst the Chaos," and after two days of deep and sometimes heated discussions on the seemingly muddled state of the industry, analysts and audience members alike gained access to a mountain of new information and perspectives. With the first quarter of 2013 in the rearview mirror and an increasingly hazy back-end to 2013, GTM Research's analyst team highlights key takeaways from the conference.

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A leading solar installer accused Arizona's largest utility of trying to "crush" net energy metering earlier this week. Arizona Public Service Company is currently conducting a series of technical workshops on the cost of solar in the state, the second largest market for distributed generation. Arizona currently requires utilities to procure 15% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2025. The mandate also includes a 30% carve-out for distributed grid. APS has 24,000 customers who have installed solar systems on their homes or businesses, 16,000 of them net metered.

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I am proud that our schools in Scottsdale are leading the way when it comes to solar energy. Last year, The Arizona Republic reported that the Scottsdale Unified School District saved $300,000 because of solar power. Rooftop photovoltaic panels offset energy costs, and any excess power is sent back to the grid. I am worried that those days may be coming to an end.

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The Arizona Corporation Commission's solar energy policy is about to drive into a ditch. Extricating it will be neither simple nor easy. In 2006, the commission deemed that regulated utilities had to get 15 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2025. Although there's a token amount of wind and other sources in the mix, in Arizona, renewable principally means solar. Since solar is more expensive than other sources, the commission has approved a surcharge on the bills of captive costumers to provide a subsidy.

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Threat to homeowner credit could doom industry, insiders say. APS continues to maintain their position.

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Recently I spoke out in support of a critical effort underway in Arizona: keeping the state's rooftop solar industry alive. Like school choice and health care choice, solar choice should be a core part of the Arizona agenda, and my party's message. Unfortunately, utility monopolies in Arizona are trying to limit solar energy choice because more energy independence for Arizonans means smaller utility profits.

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People following the Arizona solar industry closely will get the quick-and-dirty version of a slow-moving regulatory debate in the state during a conference this week. Rooftop-solar-installation companies in the state are bracing for a recommendation from Arizona Public Service Co. regarding "net metering." The policy deals with how utilities credit customers for the electricity their rooftop solar panels send to the power grid when it's not being used by their home. Without getting credit for that electricity, rooftop solar panels don't save customers much money at all.

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The Arizona Solar Industry is in bipartisan tumult. Arizona Public Service (APS), the state's dominant investor-owned utility, proposed doing away with the Arizona renewables standard (RES) distributed generation (DG) carve-out and net metering. "APS was ordered to address how it would comply with the RES rules if direct cash incentives were no longer available and it no longer received Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) from customers," an APS representative testified to the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), which regulates the state's utilities.

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The solar industry in Arizona is beginning to register the hurt from aggressive policy decisions made by the state's energy commission. In January, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) put an unannounced $38.3 million hit on the state's photovoltaic (PV) solar industry.

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In 1954, Arizona Public Service Co. brought the pioneers of solar power to Phoenix for the first national solar conference in the United States. That meeting helped spur broader interest in the use of solar power and, more importantly, helped launch a national commitment to solar research. One of the first major research facilities was created by APS in Tempe.

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World-renowned Arizona artist, architect and philosopher Paolo Soleri - the mastermind behind Arcosanti, an experimental urban laboratory in northern Arizona - died Tuesday morning. Arcosanti representatives confirmed the news in a statement:
"Today the world has lost one of its great minds. Paolo Soleri, architect, builder, artist, writer, theorist, husband, father, born on Summer Solstice, June 21, 1919, has died at age 93."

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Salt River Project (SRP) and SunPower Corp. have dedicated a 1 MW solar photovoltaic power plant at Arizona State University's (ASU) Polytechnic campus in Mesa, Ariz.

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It was only a matter of time before the underlying tension between solar companies and utilities erupted, and it’s a Goldwater who’s going to be leading some of the fight. Not the Goldwater Institute, mind you, that sued to have the state’s renewable energy standards and tariffs throw out in a move that would have slowed solar development to a crawl. Instead, Barry Goldwater Jr. is heading up a group called TUSK — Tell Utilities Solar won’t be Killed — that aims at pushing solar from a different perspective: a Republican one.

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HB2404 S/E building codes; energy efficiency (Carter) appeared on a Committee of the Whole calendar this week, but was retained. It prohibits local government from adopting more energy efficient building codes, which is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce energy use and save ratepayers money. Please continue to contact your senator.  The Homebuilders Association of Central Arizona is pushing hard to get this bill to undercut local control and more efficiency building codes.

Keep updated on news related to this bill...

Effective today at 5 p.m. the incentive for residential solar electric installations will drop to $0.30 per watt for an additional 3 megawatts of projects. This incentive level is available for solar installations that are retrofit or new home construction. Today, SRP has reached the 4 megawatt cap for the second tier ($0.40 per watt) of eligible residential solar electric installations in fiscal year 2013 (May 1, 2012 - April 30, 2013). We will honor the $0.40 per watt incentive level for all residential customers who have submitted complete and accurate applications through 5 p.m. today.

The Residential Solar Water Heating incentive remains unchanged at $0.40/kWh.

Please note that a complete application package includes those items listed in Step 1 of our Process Checklist which can be found online at www.srpnet.com/solarcontractor. Complete application packages can be submitted by 5 p.m. today using one of the following methods:

• E-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Fax to (602) 629-7978
• Hand-deliver at 1521 North Project Drive in Tempe, Arizona - ATTN: SRP Residential Solar Electric Program, PAB355

***HOLD THE DATE - SRP WILL HOLD ITS SOLAR STAKEHOLDER MEETING ON THE AFTERNOON OF WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2013 FROM 3PM - 5PM AT SKYSONG IN SCOTTSDALE. INCENTIVE LEVELS AND PROGRAM CHANGES FOR FISCAL YEAR 2014 (MAY 2013 - APRIL 2014) WILL BE DISCUSSED.

Sincerely,

SRP Residential Solar Energy Team

Salt River Project
Office: (602) 236-4661 | Fax: (602) 629-7978
Mail Station PAB355 | P.O. Box 52025 | Phoenix, AZ 85072-2025
www.srpnet.com/solarcontractor