Arizona’s largest electric utility Arizona Public Service (APS) is launching a rooftop solar program that intends to generate 1.5 megawatts (MW) of electricity.
APS is the principal subsidiary of Pinnacle West Capital
Corp. (NYSE: PNW).
As envisioned in a proposal filed Monday with the Arizona Corporation Commission, the APS Community Power Project will bring solar panels to the rooftops of homes and businesses with no upfront costs to customers.
APS said the pilot project will enable the company to measure system impacts and to better understand the total customer experience with technology.
APS will own, operate and receive energy from solar panels on eligible customer rooftops. The company will hire solar contractors to install and maintain the systems. Customers will receive an attractive long-term rate for the solar portion of their bill, which will remain fixed at a guaranteed level–approximately equivalent to what they pay today–for 20 years.
“The APS Community Power Project will provide our customers another easy option to ‘go solar’ while further accelerating the solar industry in Arizona. The project eliminates upfront costs of more than $10,000 to each customer, which we know from our experience has been a major deterrent to distributed solar systems here and elsewhere,” said APS Chairman and CEO Don Brandt. “We want to make solar energy affordable to everyone.”
Under the current plan, 200 to 300 qualified participants will be interconnected with the electrical grid along a single electric distribution area, or “feeder,” called Sandvig 4 in northeast Flagstaff, Arizon.
Additionally, APS will install utility-scale banks of solar panels and small wind turbines in the test area. The company also plans to install 50 solar water heaters in the pilot area on homes of customers with limited incomes.
While the investment in the pilot project will total $14.7 million, it will not result in an increase to customer bills because much of the funding is included in the Renewable Energy Standard (RES) surcharge already collected, APS said. Arizona’s RES requires 15% of APS’s generation to come from renewable resources by 2025.
APS said it plans to use renewable energy to meet 1,600 MW of the more than 4,000 MW of growth in energy consumption expected over the next 15-20 years. While much of this energy will come from central power stations such as Solana, a 280-MW concentrating solar facility planned for 2012 near Gila Bend, Ariz., 30% of the RES is required to be generated from distributed sources, such as rooftop solar installations.
North Carolina power company Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) last week received permission to proceed with its distributed solar program.
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