By Jake Kincaid | Pinal Central
If there is one thing Pinal County has plenty of, it’s sunshine.
The county has three solar projects waiting to be approved, and both local politicians and energy companies are looking to expand solar energy in Pinal County. However, in many cases county regulations are not prepared to smoothly accommodate the projects.
“This is a newer type of project in the county,” said Ilana Maccia, project coordinator at EDPR, one of the project applicants. “And some permitting regimes aren’t always designed to accommodate them versus some other states like California, where there are a ton of these facilities and they’ve had a little more experience and their regulations have evolved over time.”
“Based on our experience in Pinal so far,” Maccia continued, “it’s very clear that the county officials and the Board of Supervisors really want to support the economic development opportunities across the county and they’ve been very willing to work with us.”
