By Jonathan Thompson | High Country News
There may be no better place on the planet to generate solar electricity than Arizona. The entire state shows up as a big red stain on solar radiation maps, and the state’s numerous canals, fallow fields, zombie subdivisions and parking lots — not to mention its nearly 3 million rooftops — are like a big blank canvas just begging to be plastered with power-generating solar panels.
In the past two years, Arizona has taken advantage of all that sun and space. The state now has 1,079 megawatts of installed solar capacity, good enough to make it second in the nation, with just under one-third of that coming from solar panels on residential and commercial rooftops. That’s thanks in part to progressive solar-incentive programs, notably net metering, put in place several years ago by the Arizona Corporation Commission, which serves as the state’s public utility commission.
Net metering, which allows consumers to run their electric meters backward with power generated by rooftop solar panels, has been particularly successful. But now that program, along with Arizona’s other solar incentives, is under attack. During last November’s elections, the commission’s two Democrats, both of them pro-solar, were voted off the board, making it fully Republican.
In the past, solar was bipartisan in Arizona. In fact, a Republican-led corporation commission implemented the state’s current incentives, considered some of the most progressive in the nation. Barry Goldwater Jr., a GOP icon, is currently leading the charge to keep net metering in place, though the Goldwater Institute, started by Barry’s uncle, opposes renewable energy.
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
