Author Archives: Frank Andorka

APS Is Trying To Kill Steyer-Backed RPS Initiative

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

What Happened: Arizona Public Service, the state’s largest utility, is again trying to stifle solar development in the state that has the most insolation in the country, because reasons.

  • The utility behemoth, which wields enormous power in the state’s politics, is trying to kill a ballot initiative backed by progressive billionaire Tom Steyer that would raise the state’s RPS to 50% by 2030.
  • To counter the measure, APS is pushing hard for a bill in the legislature that would make the penalty for not making the RPS goals almost laughably negligible – $1,000-$5000, a penalty APS could pay with the change they find in their couch cushions.
  • Arizona is the third known Steyer-backed RPS initiative that is being considered for November’s elections. The other two initiatives are in Michigan and Nevada.

SolarWakeup’s View:  I was once at a meeting in Arizona where there was a panel discussing the relationship between utilities and the solar industry, which I missed because of a bad burrito the night before. And what I heard about it afterward made me so sorry I’d missed it.

Apparently, a representative from Arizona Public Service (APS) – the state’s largest utility – nearly got into a fistfight with another panelist who dared criticize their solar policies. There was most certainly shouting and (allegedly) some shoving, which gives you a sense of the lengths APS will go to protect its electricity-production monopoly from an ever-increasingly powerful solar industry.

I use that story as a backdrop to the current attempt by the utility to beat the state’s solar industry into submission. This time, they are trying to stop a ballot initiative that would amend the state’s constitution to increase the state’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) to 50% by 2030.

The initiative is the third known attempt by progressive billionaire Tom Steyer to get such an issue on the ballot (right now, attempts are being made in Michigan and Nevada). What’s interesting is that APS’ attempts to use a sledgehammer to kill a flea are happening before the ballot initiative even has enough signatures to get on the ballot – which may indicate how frightened they are that it just might pass.

The counter to the initiative that APS has concocted is a breathtaking display of the terrifying power they have in the state’s political structure and the shamelessness they have about wielding it so publicly. They have, through the legislature, introduced a bill that would limit the fines the state could levy on it for not making the modest RPS increase in time would be somewhere between $1,000 and $5,000.

Hell, those are fines that, in a pinch, I could pay (not that I’m offering). The idea that they would be an incentive for APS to increase its renewable energy production to meet the RPS requirements is laugh-out-loud ridiculous.

This is another attempt by APS to destroy the solar industry in Arizona before it can even get started. It cannot stand.

More:

Why APS Is Squashing The Clean Energy Vote (NBC 12 News)*

*Hearing Ryan Randazzo of The Arizona Republic compare APS to a lazy teenager is worth clicking on the link alone.

Vote Solar Lends Voice To “100% Clean Energy In California” Coalition

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

What Happened: Vote Solar is lending its voice to a coalition of 27 organizations in California that are fighting to move the state to a 100% clean energy future.

  • Yesterday, one of solar’s most active advocacy groups announced the launching of the organized campaign in support of California Senate Bill (SB) 100.
  • If SB 100 passes, it would move the renewable energy goalposts again (in a good way), raising the renewable portfolio standards from 60% to 100%.
  • Besides Vote Solar, the coalition also includes the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club and the American Lung Association.

SolarWakeup’s View:  See, it’s advocacy like this that makes it imperative for you to attend Vote Solar’s Equinox Party (their spring fundraiser, which takes place tonight).

Vote Solar does the down-and-dirty work of solar advocacy – fighting on a state-by-state level in ways that broader organizations can’t. I mean, keeping on top of all the challenges to the solar industry in all 50 states is a daunting task, and I’m always amazed (and thrilled) by the job that Adam Browning and his team do. Their eyes are everywhere, and if there’s a battle that needs to be fought in almost any state in the union, you’ll hear about it first from Vote Solar.

The coalition it’s involved in this time is working hard to build support for passage of SB 100, which would increase California’s RPS from 60% to 100%, which would be a boon to an already strong solar industry in the state. And broad-based coalitions like this are the way we will win some of the toughest fights ahead of us.

Make no mistake: There are still tough fights ahead, and we all need Vote Solar to continue their incredibly important work.. So throw them a few bucks if you can (and attend their party tonight – I can never make it, snowbound in Cleveland as I am. But from the photos I’ve seen from previous parties, it’s Off. The. Hook.).

(Yann asked me to mention that he is on the host committee of the Equinox and that he personally would appreciate it if you bought tickets and attended the event. So make Yann happy. Buy your tickets here – you won’t be disappointed.)

vote solar

Don’t let all those smiles fool you – the members of the Vote Solar team are some of the most tenacious solar advocates I’ve ever met. So support them when you can.

More:

California 100% Clean Energy Coalition

Vote Solar

Equinox 2018 Tickets

Southeastern States Like Solar. In Other News, Water Is Wet

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

What Happened: Bloomberg looked into southeastern states like Georgia, South Carolina and Florida and discovered, by golly, those states LIKE solar now. In other news, water is wet.

  • According to the report, states have been reluctant to add solar because of the cost was too high.
  • Bloomberg looked at the recent explosion of solar installations in Florida, Virginia and South Carolina to reach its conclusion (and oddly left out North Carolina for some reason).

SolarWakeup’s View: OK, I know I should let Bloomberg off the hook for this one. After all, they don’t write about solar full time the way I do. But their simplistic analysis of the development of the southeastern states sudden interest in solar just isn’t really news.

Let’s be honest here: Although Bloomberg says the previous reluctance of utilities in places like Georgia, South Carolina and Florida to adopt solar was cost, it’s pretty clear the real reason was that they were afraid of losing their monopolies. After all, if solar is good for the utility, why wouldn’t it be good for its customers in southeastern states? Right, it would be good for them – and the utilities don’t want to cede that power to anyone.

Now price drops have certainly played some part, and if prices continue to fall (in conjunction with concurrent decreases in storage technology prices), you can be utilities in the Southeast will continue to add more solar to their portfolios.

Here’s one note of caution, however: While increasing utility-scale solar plants is a good idea in the short term, it will damage the long-term prospects for the rooftop, distributed-generation market. And it should be noted that while utilities are embracing solar more often for themselves, they are still trying to impose extra charges (penalties) for solar customers who control their own generation.

So while you can applaud the increasing amount of solar in southeastern states, don’t let that lull you into a false sense of security that solar is safe there, especially when the utilities feel their bottom lines are threatened.

More:

Sunny U.S. Southeast Is Finally Becoming a Hot Spot for Solar

Arizona Court Allows Solar Property Tax Exemption

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

What Happened: Yesterday, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that homeowners that lease rooftop solar systems do not have to pay state property taxes on that home improvement.

  • The court found that since the homeowners don’t own the “electrical generation facilities,” they have earned a state property tax exemption
  • It refused, however, to offer an opinion on whether counties could levy property taxes on the solar arrays.
  • The case stretches back to 2013, when the state’s Department of Revenue, with the support of APS (the state’s largest utility), decided it could collect property taxes on the arrays.

SolarWakeup’s View:  The Arizona Supreme Court’s decision yesterday to provide a property tax exemption for homeowners who lease their rooftop solar arrays was not only the right decision, but I believe it will go a long way toward restoring a residential rooftop solar market hammered by Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) decisions over the past two years.

As you may or may not recall, the ACC ended a bruising three year battle over net metering in December 2016 by deciding to end retail net metering (a 1:1 exchange for electrons at the retail rate) for all new rooftop solar installations (in fairness, it did eventually grandfather current users, but not without a huge effort on the part of the state’s solar industry).

The state’s rooftop installers worried it would devastate their market, and the ACC’s decision certainly slowed down the market, all while APS started building utility-scale solar at an ever-increasing pace. The utility-scale building could be seen as a direct challenge to the rooftop industry and as a blatant attempt to maintain their monopoly generation power.

Yesterday, the Arizona Supreme Court evened the playing field a bit, at least for companies that lease panels to their customers. Frankly, it would have been a much bigger victory had the rule applied to all rooftop solar installations (like Florida did two years ago for commercial rooftop installations), but right now Arizona rooftop installers will take anything they can get.

Sometimes a small victory can blossom over time into a much bigger one. The Arizona Supreme Court decision yesterday could be the start of just such a process.

More:

Solar customers don’t have to pay some taxes, state Supreme Court rules (AZ Central)

Natural Gas Plans Hit Snag For Arizona Utility