Desert Mountain High School (Scottsdale, AZ)
“Let schools take solar energy lead”
Almost exactly a year after the Scottsdale Republic newspaper ran an editorial with the above headline, the Arizona Corporation Commission gave two Scottsdale high schools permission to do just that.
For a project that seems so straightforward (and whose benefits are so obvious, here in the Valley of the Sun) proponents faced a bewildering series of regulatory and legal hurdles.
It was, according to ACC chair, Kris Mayes, “perhaps the most complicated case…in the history of Arizona.”
The complexity is less about the particular case involved, and more about the national transformation to a renewable energy economy, worked out one state at a time. Our network of energy laws and rules were created around one basic model: a utility generates electricity at point A and sells it to consumers at points B through Z.
If they operate “on the grid,” residential solar panels mix electricity from point A with power produced and consumed at points B through Z.
Our regulatory and legal system has to catch up to these technological advances.
First, the state had to pass a law allowing schools to purchase power from an entity other than a utility. That was done this summer.
Next, rules had to be changed to allow non-utilities to enter into solar service agreements (SSA) with schools. While the ACC was working on this, the Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute sued to stop the plan, arguing that the ACC was constitutionally prohibited from doing anything more than setting electrical rates. A Superior County court judge rejected that argument on September 2. (The Goldwater Institute announced on Tuesday that it would appeal.)
The final two hurdles (for now), were cleared on Wednesday. The ACC ruled that the two high schools could enter into an agreement to allow SolarCity to install panels on the roof. The schools would then purchase electricity from the company at an agreed upon rate.
Finally, APS, the utility that supplies the schools’ non-solar electricity, was granted what it wanted.
Woodside school, Portola Valley, CA. Installed by SolarCity in November 2008.
In order to establish a renewable energy economy, utilities must pay consumers who install solar panels an amount based on the size of the system. A certain percentage must come from residential customers as opposed to commercial ones. APS argued that it should be allowed to count money paid to schools as “residential” and not commercial.
Because of “extraordinary circumstances,” opined the ACC, it would allow APS to count school payments as fulfilling its residential requirement. But the ruling came with a warning: “Notwithstanding this singular shift of funding,” the ACC cautioned, “APS should not view this as an opportunity for further expansion of the definition of ‘residential’ … or to ask for future waivers for that purpose.”
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