Just When You Thought it Was Safe to Catch a Few Solar Rays

Needs Some Work

As I wrote here recently, the hasty demise of anti-solar House Bill 2701 raised more questions than it answered. One of those questions is: Why did Arizona’s Speaker of the House, Representative Kirk Adams (R), say that HB2060 was evidence that he and his colleagues support solar power and are “send[ing] a clear message to global industries: we want you in Arizona.”

Speaker of the House Rep. Kirk Adams (R)

The bill he cited is about land conservation and state parks. It says nothing about renewable energy.

Speaker Adams didn’t return a call, but I reached a House Republican spokesperson and asked him for an explanation.

The bill, he said, may not mention renewable energy, but it shows support for parks and the environment. I pointed out that in his statement, Adams specifically said that HB2060 provides incentives for renewable energy. After a pause, the aide said he’d look into it.

Adams Takes a Mulligan: HB2676

Apparently, he did. Representative Adams’ Web-based press release has been updated. It still has Thursday’s date at the top, but the example of support for renewable power has been changed. The “solar friendly” bill is now listed as HB2676.

On his second try, Adams’ has grabbed what appears to be a plausible brass ring: HB2676. It’s titled: Energy Park Authority.

That sounds solar friendly — or at least supportive of renewables.

On the other hand, the Bush Administration’s “Healthy Forests Act” was a Luntzian device which would have been more properly titled “Leave No Tree Behind.” A measure of strict scrutiny is in order.

The official bill summary reads:

HB 2676 creates the Energy Park Authority (Authority), which administers monies primarily received from a new property class designation for electric generation facilities, in order to facilitate new transmission and renewable or noncarbon based generation facilities.

The bill has two items to please supporters of renewable energy. Under definitions, an Energy Park is defined as:

At least two renewable or noncarbon-based generation facilities and the associated transmission lines interconnected together that are codeveloped for the purposes of receiving incentives…

So far, so good.

Those familiar with the inside workings of the Arizona Corporation Commission — the single most powerful governmental ally of solar and renewable energy in Arizona — tell The Phoenix Sun that the worst part of HB2701 was the legislature’s attempt to destroy ACC’s independence — to take for itself, the commission’s ability to set energy standards and regulations.

No one who knows anything about Arizona politics would claim that if it had been up to the legislature, the state would have adopted a renewable energy standard of 15% by the year 2025.

Clear as Mud

HB2676 seeks to allay the fears of ACC supporters. It includes a clear statement on turf:

Nothing in this chapter diminishes the authority or jurisdiction of the Arizona Corporation Commission as provided by Article XV, Constitution of Arizona.

End of power grab?

Not so, says Sandy Bahr.

While [the bill] says there is no conflict with the powers of the Arizona Corporation Commission, it most certainly seems there is. The people who crafted it either have no idea how the current system works or are deliberately trying to create a big mess or both.

Sandy Bahr, Sierra Club

Bahr is the director of the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter. She’s either an excellent advocate for the environment or a gadfly slowing down and sometimes stopping the important working of the Arizona legislature — depending on your outlook, ideology and, of course, who signs your paycheck.

Asked to explain her remarks, Bahr points out that the proposed Energy Park Authority would be responsible for power station siting decisions — a job now reserved for the ACC. It’s like proposing a new lawrequiring a panel of pet store owners to set air pollution standards — and inserting a section stating that nothing in the new law diminishes the authority of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

Stalling in the Court

HB2676 would create a constitutional crisis that could take a year or two to be resolved. And during that period the ACC’s hands would be tied. Which is why Bahr thinks it’s possible that the “solar friendly” bill might be designed to create maximum chaos and choke the life out of the state’s solar industry.

Bahr also points to the makeup of the board of directors for the new Energy Park Authority, which would include a senator, a house member, someone from a regulated utility, an expert in transmission planning and a few other members. Looking a the list, Bahr poses a reasonable question:

“If [the Energy Park Authority] is going to be used for siting renewable energy,” she asks, “why no experts with backgrounds in renewable?”

For a bill that’s supposed to be a model of “renewable friendly” legislation, the bill has some other peculiarities. We’ll turn to them, tomorrow.

Then we’ll look at Plan C, which is the greatest threat to the future of solar power in Arizona. It’s also the one most likely to succeed.

Arizona Speaker of the House Rep. Kirk Adams

Yesterday, Speaker of the Arizona House, Republican Kirk Adams, sought to “set the record straight” and put the political crisis caused by HB 2701 behind him. First, he had to cowboy up and place the blame where it properly belonged.

If you guessed that Adams took some responsibility for the debacle, as the “leader of the House” (as he put it) and as one of the bill’s sponsors, well, you don’t know our Speaker.

It was all the media’s fault.

Setting the Record Straight

“Recent news stories have depicted the Arizona House of Representatives as being anti-solar energy,” Adams said. “I wish to set the record straight.”

In Thursday’s press release, Adams sought to dispel this media-created false image of an Arizona House “unconcerned about the development of emerging renewably [sic] energy technologies.”

Adams was very clear about the House’s record of supporting solar and other renewable energy sources. After speaking in generalities, Adams cited two bills by number as evidence that the House he leads is pro-renewable.

The passage last year of SB1403 further propelled Arizona to the forefront internationally as an attractive location for renewable energy companies.

Adams is dead right about SB1403 — it received international praise and showed that Arizona was serious about becoming the “capital of solar power.” And passing it in the House was a difficult but ultimately successful battle. Of course, it would have passed more easily if Speaker Adams had supported it. But he opposed SB1403, voting “No” on the bill he now touts as a shining example of Arizona’s commitment to renewable energy.

Sending a Clear Message

The Speaker’s reference to a second bill is even more confusing.

“We have not rested on our past accomplishments,” he assured the world, “and continue to move forward with legislation like HB2060.” That bill, Adams declared will “send a clear message to global industries: we want you in Arizona.”

The bill is titled, An Act Amending Section 41.511.23, Arizona Revised Statutes: Making an Appropriation: Relating to Public Conservation Monies.

If that doesn’t seem like a clear message of support for renewable energy, you needn’t bother reading the six page bill text. It doesn’t make the link with renewable energy any more understandable. HB2060 deals with moving money around between state funds for park operations and conservation land purchases. There’s no mention of renewable energy. Or energy of any kind.

Speaker Adams was unavailable to answer questions about how HB2060 relates to renewable energy.

Rep. Debbie Lesko, author of HB2701

What we’re left with is not terribly reassuring to supporters of renewable power thinking of bringing jobs to Arizona. All we know so far is that HB2701 was withdrawn after renewable power companies, utilities, hundreds of citizens and the major state papers, all condemned it — with some major solar businesses threatening to leave the state or to call off plans to move here, if the bill wasn’t killed.

Having the bill withdrawn was a good thing. But let’s call it what it was: a panicked cut-our-losses response to a rapidly deteriorating political situation for the state Republican party.

Speaker Adams’ press release isn’t so much an effort to “set the record straight” as it as an attempt to throw a cover over a record too unpleasant to be seen — least of all, by voters.

RES at Work: Grand Canyon Ntl. Park (AZ)

UPDATE: Read updated version “Arizona Set to Abandon Leadership on Solar Power. Big Winner: China” in OnEarth magazine

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

Just seven months after Arizona enacted a law that supporters said would help make the state the “solar capital” of the nation, new legislation has been introduced that opponents maintain could kill the nascent industry.

House bill 2701 “would surely be the death knell for advancing solar energy in the state,” Kris Mayes, chair of the Arizona Corporation Commission, told the Phoenix Business Journal on Friday.

The bill would define “renewable” to include nuclear power (despite the fact that nuclear plants need to be refueled periodically). That change would end what many experts consider the most effective incentive for installing solar and wind generation: the Renewable Energy Standard (RES).

Under current law, the Arizona Corporation Commission’s RES mandates that utilities must generate 15 percent of electricity from renewable sources by the year 2025. Since the state’s largest utility, APS, already gets approximately 27 percent of its electricity from a nuclear power plant outside of Phoenix, HB 2701 would allow the company to stop adding any new renewable power sources.

Sean Seitz, president of American Solar Electric, one of the largest solar installers in the valley, agreed with Mayes’ assessment of HB 2701. “If this bill passed in its current form,” predicted Seitz, “the current program…would be a skeleton of itself.”

The bill would make Arizona the only state that includes existing nuclear power plants in an RES.

Sponsors say that solar projects would continue even without the RES. A 2007 study from the Berkeley National Laboratory, however, appears to contradict that claim.

The report compared actual solar installations made between 2000 and 2006 in states with and without an RES supporting solar (California was excluded from the study because of its other progressive solar policies).

The difference is clear in the chart below. States with an RES had more than double the solar installations of states lacking such a mandate. (Currently, 32 states and Washington DC have some form of RES.)

The Role of RES in Installed Solar

RES Boosts Arizona Jobs, Technology Innovation

Saguaro Solar Thermal Plant

In 2001, Arizona was one of the first states to adopt an RES. The policy has taken new solar technologies from the drawing board to reality and attracted jobs in solar manufacturing, installation and R&D.

The Saguaro Solar Generating Station

On Earth Day, 2006, APS dedicated the first solar trough system built in the US since 1990. The 1-MW Sagauro station uses giant mirrors to concentrate sunlight on a tube filled with mineral oil. That oil boils an organic liquid, which turns turbine to produce electricity. The Saguaro facility uses six rows of 15-foot-tall mirrors.

According to an APS spokesman, Arizona’s RES “was a major catalyst for the for the solar trough project. We realized that we needed something on a large scale if we were going to meet the goals.”

The maker of the solar receivers used at Saguaro underscored the important role the RES played in developing the solar thermal station.

“The Saguaro Power plant is a significant step forward for Arizona as it seeks to reach its goal of generating 15 percent of its electricity from renewable resources within the next 20 years,” said Udo Ungeheuer, chairman of the Schott Management Board.

The Department of Energy’s Western Area Power Administration called the Saguaro project “the solar comeback story of the year.”

Now, by removing the RES incentive, HB 2107 could be Arizona’s solar fall-behind story of the year. A look at the reasons behind a recent Arizona industry victory shows why.

In November, 2009, Chinese solar manufacturing giant, Suntech Power, announced plans to build the company’s first North American plant in Arizona, with production to begin later this year. In a press release, the largest manufacturer of solar panels in China said it “selected the Greater Phoenix area for its plant because of Arizona’s leadership in research through Arizona State University, and statewide renewable energy policies, particularly its Renewable Energy Standard…”

Arizona Jobs and Renewable Energy Growth

Nationally, several studies have shown the potential for job growth through expanding renewable energy — providing cleaner air, fighting climate change and expanding employment at the same time. Last year, a study by the Union of Concerned Scientists examined the link between states with strong RES requirements and the growth of renewable power (and, so, jobs).

RES Powers Megawatts

The study found that if states achieve their RES targets, 76,759 MW of new renewable power capacity will be in place by 2025 — enough electricity to power 47 million homes. HB 2701 would remove Arizona from this pattern of growth.

Fast-tracked

Click on image to download bill (pdf)

Despite the considerations above, the bill appears likely to pass in both the Arizona House and Senate. HB 2701 has 52 sponsors and co-sponsors, including Senate President Robert Burns and Speaker of the House Kirk Adams. (Both are primary sponsors of the bill.)

HB 2701 will almost certainly sail through the two committees to which it’s been assigned: Government and Rules.

The House Government Committee is chaired by Representative Judy Burges (R), one of the bill’s sponsors. Five of the remaining eight members are also Republicans — and also sponsors of HB 2701. None of the Democrats on the committee are sponsors, but there are only three of them.

The committee will take up HB 2701 this Tuesday, February 23, at 2:00 PM Mountain Time.

Next it moves to the House Rules committee where the track appears to be just as fast:

The chairman is Rep. Warde Nichols (R), a sponsor of the bill. The House Speaker, Kirk Adams, a sponsor, sits on the eight-member committee. That leaves six members — three are Republicans (and sponsors). One of the three Democrats, Rep. Jack Brown, is a co-sponsor of HB 2701, leaving only two non-sponsors on the committee.

Check back for updates; The Phoenix Sun will continue to cover HB 2701.