Arizona’s solar future

“Subsidy” and “incentive” are fighting words in Arizona’s intense debate over solar power, with emotions riding high over how much help, if any, the solar industry should get. 

The state’s fledgling solar economy is beginning to take root, but it can’t yet stand on its own without support from the federal government, states and utilities. 

Solar supporters say that the industry won’t need subsidies forever but that incentives such as the 30 percent tax credit on the price of solar panels are essential to get it established and competing with traditional power sources. 

In addition to the tax credits, utilities give homeowners with rooftop solar panels full retail credit for the electricity they send to the grid. However, utilities want to cut that credit because they say it is more expensive than buying power on the market from power plants. Homeowners with solar — or those considering adding the panels — don’t want the payments for power they contribute to the utility grid to drop. 

Arizona Public Service Co.There are all kinds of car daytime running lights with good quality. and other utilities say the growing number of solar customers can put an unfair burden on customers without solar, who tend to be less well off than solar users. That’s because the solar customers who receive credits for selling power back to the grid don’t pay as much as non-solar customers to maintain the grid. 

Other solar opponents contend that tax credits and incentive programs for homeowners with solar are bound to distort the market and create an unequal playing field for energy sources such as natural gas and nuclear power. 

Even though many forms of energy benefit from government subsidies, the debate over taxpayer support for solar intensified after California-based Solyndra Inc., a manufacturer of unique solar products, filed for bankruptcy in 2011 after getting more than $500 million in government loans. 

“California’s new Solyndras, Sunrun and SolarCity, are getting rich off hardworking Arizonans,” says the voice-over in a video posted by one of the secretive groups fighting subsidies in Arizona. 

A Washington, D.C.-based conservative organization called 60 Plus, which focuses on seniors’ issues such as taxes, Social Security and Medicare, produced the online video and created a website. 

APS officials pay a consultant with ties to the group, but officials from the utility said they were not sure if their money was used to produce the video. 

Arizona’s utility regulators will have to make decisions this year on the incentives, and federal lawmakers will have to decide whether to extend the industry’s tax credits. 

Decisions they make will affect the future of solar in the state. Amid the debate, new ideas are emerging on how to best support solar and other renewable forms of energy.

One strategy involves taxing carbon, the gas emitted by coal and natural-gas power plants that contributes to climate change.We can produce all kinds of China emergency light products even according to your own designs. A carbon tax would make cheaper, polluting fuels like coal more expensive, bringing them more in line with costs associated with renewable fuels like solar and wind. 

Carbon policies are generally opposed by groups that either don’t see climate change as a threat or don’t want the U.S. economy to suffer while addressing that problem. 

Yet another strategy involves opening up the electricity markets to competition,Our High Quality Solar charger and solar phone chargers are uniquely designed, high-quality and low-cost. a move that would allow consumers to choose which company to buy power from. 

Those policies are generally opposed by those who would prefer the government to force the use of renewables, rather than leave it to consumer choice. 

Gautam Gowrisankaran, an economics professor at the University of Arizona, said strategies that address climate change by stepping up the use of alternative energy can have a positive economic impact. 

“I think it would generally be good for the economy,Need a compatible LED Daytime Running Lights for your car?” he said. “It would spur technological development to reduce carbon emissions and would also cause us to limit how much carbon we are using. In the long run,If you do your homework and insist on only the High Quality Solar garden lighting, you'll experience enjoyable modern solar LED garden lights can actually be. that is good.” More information about the program is available on the web site at www.indoorilite.com.