By Patrick O’Grady| Phoenix Business Journal
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.
This is a bit of a one-trick elephant, but it’s going after a contentious spot in the solar fight flaring between installers and utilities. It’s not incentives. That ship has sailed. Nor is it raising the renewable energy standard.
This time it’s about net metering.
Jason Rose, head of Rose+Moser+Allen Public & Online Relations in Phoenix, who is speaking for the group, said the big fight is about net metering because, depending on the changes to the state’s policies requiring utilities to accept excess solar power, it could kill distributed solar.
Related: T.U.S.K.: Tell Utilities Solar won’t be Killed
Arizona pro-solar group formed to battle utilitieshttp://tinyurl.com/cneqslr
If you’d like to discuss energy issues, contact Court Rich, Co-Chair of Rose Law Group’s Renewable Energy Department at crich@roselawgroup.com
