As of May 1, SRP customers who install a residential solar photovoltaic (PV) energy system will be eligible to receive a rebate worth $1.35 per watt (solar panels are sized in watts). The rebate will be capped at 5 kilowatts (kW), which means that a homeowner who installs a system that’s 5-kilowatts or bigger in size could receive $6,750 in incentives.

Here is SRP’s explanation of how it has restructured the program:

SRP has set aside funding for a total of 4.5 megawatts (MW) of residential solar electric installations through April 30, 2012. The incentive level is offered at $1.35 per watt, up to 5 kilowatts (kW) for the first 2 MW of installations and adjusts to $1.20 per watt for another 1.5 MW of installations, ending at $1 per watt for the remaining 1 MW of installations.

In addition to solar rebates offered by SRP and other utilities, like APS and Tucson Electric Power, Arizona residents can also take advantage of a $1,000 state tax credit, as well as a 30-percent federal tax credit. Together, these various incentives help reduce solar installation costs.

Homeowners who install solar panels enjoy significantly lower electricity bills for many years after first going solar. That 5-kW solar array mentioned above, for example, could reduce monthly electricity costs by about $720 per year, according to SRP.

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Suntech Power, a leading China-based manufacturer of solar panels, said it has hired 30 workers at its Arizona plant in a push to expand its U.S. operations. To reach a goal of producing about 15,000 solar panels each month, the company will also add a third production shift to run the plant 24 hours a day.

“With growing demand for our U.S.-manufactured panels, we’re excited to increase our production capacity and growth in Arizona’s solar industry,” Suntech’s Arizona Production Manager Mike Starr said in a statement.

Suntech opened its Goodyear, Arizona facility in October 2010, partly to ensure its panels qualified for incentives under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. By assembling panels in the southwest, Suntech also finds itself in close proximity to big solar-panel markets, like Arizona, California and Colorado.

The company has been warmly welcomed by the local government, which is (like Arizona as a whole) working to promote the creation of clean-energy jobs.

“We’re thrilled that the world’s largest producer of solar panels continues to make major investments in our future right here in Goodyear,” said the city’s Mayor, Georgia Lord. “Our city is on the forefront of Arizona’s fast-growing solar economy and the global cleantech revolution.”

The 117,000-square-foot plant is on track to employ 150 workers by the end of 2011.

Related: Suntech is among the most popular solar panels for residential systems in California.

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On this topic, EchoFirst may be onto something. In addition to using sunlight to generate electrical power, as conventional PV panels do, the company’s energy system captures the sun’s thermal energy, which may then be used for heating water and home air conditioning.

The result, according to the company, is a system that operates at around 50 percent efficiency. Here’s more on how it works:

Basic PV panels draw energy only from a narrow spectrum of the sun’s energy to create electricity. The remaining energy, which is mostly in the form of heat, remains unused. The simple but powerful idea behind Echo is to capture a much wider spectrum of the sun’s energy — to utilize those same PV panels to generate both electricity and heat. Because Echo uses the same PV panel to generate both electrical and thermal (heat) energy, it’s more efficient.

Sounds pretty cool, huh? Cooler still is the fact that Echo’s product may be added to conventional solar PV panels (though I haven’t been able to determine whether retrofits are feasible).

While EchoFirst is still a relatively new company, several U.S. homebuilders — Meritage Homes, Wathen Castanos Hybrid Homes and ZETA – are intrigued enough to give the systems a try. It was announced today that the solar technology will be powering several new home communities in California, Arizona and Nevada. Mike Nimon, President of Wathen Castanos Hybrid Homes, had the following to say:

A net zero energy home — a home that generates as much energy as it uses —  has long been the dream of homeowners seeking energy independence and financial security. Echo provides the technology to deliver — affordably and efficiently — a zero energy home at a more attractive cost basis than the basic solar electric systems seen in the market.

>> Related: Net-Zero Home to Feature Solar Panels, $0 Electric Bill

Formerly of SunPower Corp., EchoFirst’s CEO, Vikas Desai, offered the following sound bite:

Echo is an affordable, practical solution for homebuilders and homeowners who want a complete solution to their energy problem. With Echo, a net zero energy home is no longer ‘the home of the future’ — it’s a practical available option today. Echo delivers zero energy home performance — and the beautiful roof-integrated aesthetics and curb appeal demanded by builders and homebuyers alike.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that EchoFirst recently changed its name from PVT Solar, which presumably stood for “photovoltaic thermal” solar. I’ll be the first to say that “Echo Solar” has a much nicer ring to it…

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A common critique of distributed generation is that, thanks to trees and other obstructions, not every roof is good for solar panels; a common critique of utility solar is that the plants take up lots of land and can disrupt surrounding habitats.

Case in point vis-à-vis the latter: a new assessment released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management indicates that the Ivanpah solar project may threaten more of the local fauna (desert tortoises) than originally estimated by the project developer, BrightSource Energy.

[The] new assessment estimates that up to 162 adult tortoises in the project area will have to be captured and moved and up to 700 juvenile tortoises would be killed during construction.

On April 25, BrightSource halted work on two phases of the three-phase project after discovering more desert tortoises on the project site than previously anticipated. The critters have been on the federal endangered species list since 1990.

All this begs the question, can big solar and wildlife co-exist? Can renewable energy project developers and conservationists get along?

Brad Powell of the Arizona Wildlife Federation thinks so, provided limitations are placed on the amount of land opened to development:

The Arizona Wildlife Federation and its members believe that the best way forward is to cluster projects in appropriately sited zones with high solar potential and minimal wildlife conflicts. There are three proposed solar-energy zones in Arizona, totaling 13,735 acres, ample acreage to allow for the projected levels of development.

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The federal government’s current preferred alternative, however, would open up an additional 4.4 million acres on public lands in Arizona to new development. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar needs to get personally involved to make sure this development is done in a way that protects the sporting traditions that are so important to our heritage.

Powell is referring to a federal proposal to the expand development of solar energy projects in six western states. A project of the Department of Energy, Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management, the plan is open to public comment until Monday, May 2. See the Solar Energy Development Programmatic website for more info.

Related reading:

• Solar on Public Lands, Pros & Cons
• Really, Really Big Solar Project Counts Google Among Its Backers

Image credit: Tigerhawkvok

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It’s a sign of the times: the site of a former General Motors vehicle testing facility will soon house a manufacturing plant dedicated to making clean-energy-producing solar panels.

First Solar, the Tempe, Arizona-based maker of advanced thin-film solar modules, today announced it will build a its new U.S. manufacturing plant in Mesa, Arizona. The company will invest about $300 million in the facility and, in so doing, create some 600 jobs.

First Solar President, Bruce Sohn, took care to acknowledge that government incentives have played a key role in promoting growth in the renewable energy sector:

“Supportive state and federal policies have provided the visibility needed for the U.S. to become our fastest-growing market, and the Mesa factory will enable us to meet that growing demand. Programs such as Department of Energy loan guarantees and the solar investment tax credit are crucial to helping the renewable energy industry quickly reach the scale needed to compete with fossil fuels. Over the long-term, programs like these facilitate the market growth and investment that will support the future expansion of this factory.”

First Solar is looked to as a price leader, and has long had the industry’s lowest per-watt manufacturing cost. An influx of cheaply produced polysilicon-based panels — mainly from China — is however challenging First Solar’s claim to the top spot. The company recently expanded production at its solar panel manufacturing plant in Perrysburg, Ohio. When the Mesa plant comes on line in 2012, output is expected to increase to over 500 megawatts (MW) a year.

First Solar’s CEO Rob Gillette (left) and President Bruce Sohn (second from left) announce the company’s new plant in Mesa, Ariz., with Governor Jan Brewer and other government officials.

Arizona Governor, Jan Brewer, has in recent years worked to attract clean-energy companies — particularly solar-panel manufacturers — to the state. In her remarks today, she echoed Sohn’s sentiments, highlighting supportive programs Arizona has enacted at the state level.

“First Solar’s presence in Arizona has been a great engine in driving our renewable energy sector forward. And now its plans for a 135-acre technology campus — with 600 quality jobs and the potential for hundreds more — will propel Arizona into its second century, while promoting the Arizona Commerce Authority’s plan for business attraction, retention and expansion. We are grateful that First Solar’s leadership has confidence in my Cornerstones of Reform — including the Arizona Competitiveness Package.”

For more information, see First Solar’s website.

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Starting February 1, TEP will let customers buy the clean energy directly from the utility company in blocks of 150 kilowatt-hours (kWh) as part of its new Bright Tucson Community Solar Program. To get a better sense of how much energy that is, two average refrigerators can run on 150 kWh of energy for an entire month. For each block purchased, the utility will add  $3 to the customer’s utility bill. As far as we know, there is no limit on how many blocks of energy a customer can purchase, so a TEP customer can buy all of their energy directly from TEP.

When TEP first announced the forming of the new program way back in July 2010, it said that six, 15o-kWh blocks each month would be enough to power an average household for an entire year. So do the math. That’s $18 a month and $216 each year. It may cost a little more now than conventional fuel sources, but the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) is letting customers lock into this $18 per month fixed rate for 20 years. So the price you pay for energy won’t fluctuate for the next two decades.

The new system is the largest solar source TEP has installed locally, but that probably won’t be the case for long. Chairman, President and CEO of TEP Paul Bonavia has already said publicly that larger systems are on their way:

“This system is the first of more than a dozen local solar projects that will be built over the next few years to help us take full advantage of southern Arizona’s most abundant renewable energy resource.”

All told, TEP plans to invest $28 million this year in solar projects and has already proposed similar investments for three more years in order to meet a state mandate that requires all utilities to add more solar to their portfolios each year until they reach 15 percent by 2025.  Translation: There’s going to be a lot more blocks available in the future.

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The meetings will offer the public a chance to voice their opinion on the Draft Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS), a two-year study conducted by the Obama Administration in order to identify the best methods and locations for developing solar power projects. The study was released in mid-December and highlighted 24 areas in six states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah — best suited for large scale production. Those areas have been dubbed “solar zones.”

To date, federal officials have planned 13 meetings, each of which Bureau of Land Management Director Tom Abbey views as an important opportunity to improve the solar project development process:

“The lessons learned from developing this Draft Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement and the public input obtained during this crucial comment period will help make all solar development resulting from this process ‘Smart from the Start.”

Here are the meetings that have been schedule thus far, by state:

Arizona

• Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 7:00pm: Sheraton Crescent Hotel, 2620 W. Dunlap Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85021
• Wednesday, March 2, 2011 at 7:00pm: Pima Community College, 4905 E. Broadway, Building C, Room 105, Tucson, AZ 85709 (LOCATION TENTATIVE)

California

• Monday, February 7, 2011 at 7:00pm: Imperial County Admin. Center, 940 W. Main Street, Suite 211, El Centro, CA 92243
• Tuesday, February 8, 2011 at 7:00pm: Hyatt Grand Champions Resort, 44-600 Indian Wells Lane, Indian Wells, CA 92210
• Tuesday, February 22, 2011 at 7:00pm: Hilton Sacramento Arden West, 2200 Harvard St., Sacramento, CA 95815
• Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 7:00pm: Holiday Inn Express, 2700 Lenwood Road, Barstow, CA 92311

Colorado

• Monday, March 7, 2011 at 7:00pm: San Luis Valley Regional Medical Center Education and Conference Center, 1921 Main Street, Alamosa, CO 81101

Nevada

• Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 7:00pm: Ramada Las Vegas, 325 East Flamingo Road, Las Vegas, NV 89169
• Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 7:00pm: Esmeralda County School, 270 N. Euclid Avenue, Goldfield, NV 89013
• Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 7:00pm: Caliente Elementary School, 280 Lincoln Street, Caliente, NV 89008

New Mexico

• Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 7:00pm: Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces, 705 S. Telshor Boulevard, Las Cruces, NM 88011

Utah

• Wednesday, March 9, 2011 at 7:00pm: Crystal Inn Hotel & Suites, 1575 West 200 North, Cedar City, UT 84720
• Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 7:00pm: Hampton Inn & Suites – Airport, 307 N. Admiral Byrd Road, Salt Lake City, UT 84116

Individuals can register in advance to speak at the event via the Solar PEIS website.

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“The Envy of the World”

We begin in Arizona, where Governor Jan Brewer plans to continue adding solar generation capacity to a state that has created the most vibrant solar manufacturing industry in the nation. Through its renewable tax incentive, Arizona has been attracting manufacturing plants of some of the biggest solar companies in the world, including First Solar, Inc. and Suntech Power. Those plants have created hundreds of clean energy jobs for Arizonans. 2011 should bring more of the same, as in her inaugural address, Governor Brewer said she wants to create a solar industry that is “the envy of the world.”

A Blast from the Past

Governor Brewer’s pledge is said to fall in line with the goals of Californians, where voters went back in time and selected Governor Jerry Brown. Brown already served two terms as the state’s governor from 1975 to 1983. While former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was very much in favor of clean energy development, Brown also has an ambitious goal for a state that leads the nation in solar capacity. In his inaugural address, Brown said he wants to install an additional 20,000 megawatts (MW) of solar energy to the state’s electric grid by 2020.

More Solar, More Jobs

Colorado Governor Bill Ritter’s message to Coloradans is in line with Governor Brewer’s plan in Arizona: more clean energy will lead to more jobs. Governor Ritter started with this message four years ago when he joined clean energy advocates in announcing a new report suggesting that, if Colorado were to increase its renewable energy capacity by 20 percent, it would add $1.9 billion to the state’s gross domestic product. And, in an effort to appeal to the economic needs of Coloradoans, Ritter noted that using more renewable energy would create over 4,000 new state jobs with a combined yearly salary of more than $570 million.

Incentives Lead the Way

By reelecting Governor Deval Patrick, Massachusetts has shown its approval for solar energy production and legislation. Since taking office in 2007, Governor Patrick has helped along the installation of 29.8 megawatts (MW) of solar energy capacity throughout the state and created several key incentive programs that are being credited for the up-rise in clean energy: the Commonwealth Solar Program (versions I and II), the 2008 Green Communities Act and the Commonwealth Solar Stimulus. Governor Patrick’s clean energy goal for his second term? Install another 250 MW of solar capacity by 2017.

Power NY

We finish our tour in the Empire State where, en route to his recent Gubernatorial victory, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo made solar energy a top campaign priority with Power NY — a plan to stimulate New York’s solar energy industry. The plan includes a renewable energy credits program, increasing the use of solar thermal technology for water heating and replacing old power plants with modern plants that will increase clean energy capacity and reduce carbon emissions.

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The start of the new year, however, brings fresh hope — and fresh funds. Here’s how the APS solar rebate program will work going forward:

APS’s 2011 Residential Grid-Tied PV incentive budget has been equally divided into the four quarters of 2011. Once APS has reserved all funding for a given quarter, applications will be held (in the order in which they were received) and will be reserved in the next quarter in which funding is available.

As it stands, APS will pay an upfront incentive of $1.75 per watt for residential solar electric systems up to 50 percent of total project costs. A typical 5-kilowatt (kW) array is comprised of 5,000 watts — which means it would be eligible for a solar rebate of $8,750. Tack on the federal solar tax credit — which is worth 30 percent of post-rebate costs — and you can begin to see why solar home energy systems (not to mention commercial solar energy systems) are becoming such a popular option in the Grand Canyon State.

If we could offer one piece of advice to APS customers who are interested in installing solar panels for their home, it would be to get started now by having a free home solar energy evaluation. Not only is the APS solar rebate scheduled to come down later in the year, experience tells us that these rebates will go like hotcakes. In fact, it looks like solar rebates allocated for 2011 have already been reserved:

Given the huge amount of recent interest in Arizona solar power, it’s not surprising the APS solar rebate budget — at about $6 million per quarter in 2011 — is already on its way to becoming fully allocated. With some luck and perseverance, APS could well fullfil its obligations under Arizona’s renewable energy standard, which require the utility to get 15 percent of its retail energy sales from renewable energy sources by 2025.

If you’ve got questions about how to go about installing solar panels in Arizona — or beyond — please feel free to post them below. Or, just give us a call.

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Just ask three homeowners in the PebbleCreek community in Goodyear, Arizona — one of Forbes Magazine’s top ten retirement communities in the nation. Earlier this month, a few members of the group opened their homes so that their neighbors could catch a glimpse of solar energy in action. What’s more, the three homeowners even made their utility bills public to show just how much solar saves them on monthly electric bills.

Allwest Energy of Phoenix, Arizona — a company that has installed some 80 solar energy systems in PebbleCreek alone — sponsored the event in an effort to persuade neighbors to make the switch to clean energy. Several community members came together to organize the event and chose the three homes best showcase the benefits of residential solar power, namely: (1) lower utility bills, (2) increased home value of home and (3) protection from increased electricity prices over time.

Roughly 25 residents showed up and were treated to breakfast with a side of solar, as Allwest representatives were present to answer any questions not covered by the homeowners. Afterward, Allwest offered group discounts on solar installations to neighbors who wanted to install. It’s unknown how many homeowners took Allwest up on the offer.

Pam Peaper was one of the the three homeowners who opened their homes to neighbors, and she addressed two key issues that often make homeowners wary of installing solar — that the systems are obtrusive and solar costs too much:

“You can only see them [the solar panels] from a corner in the backyard. Our highest bill has been about $34 in the summertime and we are here all year. It [the solar home energy system] has been a huge savings; it’s completely hidden on the roof.”

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