By Stephen Lacey |Greentech Media
Last week, Arizona Public Service surprised the solar industry with its sudden decision to invest directly in rooftop solar.
If its plan is approved by regulators, APS will install and manage 20 megawatts of PV systems on customer rooftops in Arizona using local labor, replacing a proposed 20-megawatt centralized solar power plant.
The proposal was lauded by installation companies operating in the state, some of which could see their business double in 2015 as a result of the initiative. But it was derided by the largest national solar service providers for shutting them out of the market. The issue, they say, is that APS can now rate-base distributed solar and get a guaranteed rate of return, giving it an unfair advantage over competitors.
