Page 48 - the NOISE December 2013

Why Does APS Hate Solar?
story by Omar Victor illus by Pedro Dia
the Valley Metro area contains 16,753 square miles, and the entire state of Arizona is bracketed with 113,998 square miles. Further, we researched the total amount of retail space in Phoenix alone, not counting uncovered parking lots,
was about 7.7 square miles.
One contractor suggested that just by having solar panels on 12% of the roofs in Phoenix would generate the same amount of
electricity as Palo Verde, while an- other suggested that building so- lar panels along the median of 5% of Arizona’s interstate highways would do the same.
The cost for 30 square miles of solar panels, according to the oft- quoted “$4 a watt” by residential solar contractors, is calculated at $239,957,714 — or 2% of what it cost to build Palo Verde in today’s dollars.
With homeowner investment forging what could be considered a viable alternative energy source for the state, the last remaining question is: Is this what APS fears?
We await to hear from Arizona Public Service.
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his propensity for the lighter side of music, something unlike anything I’ve heard from any musician.
Dear Brother Death (DBD) juxta- poses his earlier 2013 release, Non- Sequitur, in many noticeable ways. He replaces full skins with ambient percussion, and, in similar fashion, relies more heavily on strings than a collection of instruments – with DBD’s closer, “Volunteer,” being the only track driven by keys.
This minimalistic approach al- lows his vocals to resonate distinctly above his intricate guitar work, which could have easily been mud- dled by incorporating too many instruments. I’ve always respected that in the former Flagstaffian – his understanding of how much or little to include for a song to sound com- plete.
DBD’s seven tracks are connected by an often dreary, yet subtly hope- ful, spirit stretching from Vasquez’s innermost emotions and reverber- ating through each note and lyric. One has to assume these songs were written under the spell of liq- uid courage to ring so personal.
From the sorrowful wails pervad- ing the album’s fourth, “Foundling,” to the baritone tap-ons of its sixth,
“Romper,” DBD has that rare ability to turn its audience’s gaze inward in an introspective journey to the realm of spiritual content. Like Page France’s Hello, Dear Wind, this mu- sic belongs on a high perch with a windswept setting of the sun.
It’s too difficult to pick apart spe- cific tracks. Like Ray and Dave Da- vies, they belong together and don’t read as well individually — another beautiful aspect of this album. None have the potential to be singles, and I f*ckin’ dig it.
Vazquez doesn’t write music to get radio play, which is an all too common tragedy these days. To the contrary, music is his method of ex- pressing the feelings and emotions we aren’t able to concretely under- stand, and his way of confronting life’s unpredictable nature.
DBD is poetry, an ode to mortality. It’s hiking through red rock, or pon- dering among aspens before their leaves fall. Leave the talkie sh*t to the clubs and pubs. It’s not the bass you’ll feel pounding at your chest with these seven tracks — it’s the universally sought after onslaught of fulfillment only found through experiencing a beautiful connec- tion to the human experience. That’s what Vazquez gives us.
— Tom Blanton
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A rizona Public Service, the regulated public utility that is the sole provider of electricity to
1.1 million customers in Arizona, just last month made a case with the regulatory body that oversees it, the Arizona Corporation Com- mission, that it required $100 each month from each new solar customer to help “defray the costs of infrastructure and develop- ment,” (a figure, that if sought from its 24,000 existing solar customers, would have garnered the utility $28.8 million per year).
Spending an estimated $3.5 mil- lion on a highly advertised cam- paign to sway the public (and pre- sumably the Commission’s) mind- set, what APS did not mention in the thousands of commercials it aired is: in 2012 alone, its share- holders (those who’ve invested in Pinnacle West, its parent for-profit corporation) had witnessed a net operating profit of $381.5 mil- lion, up 17% from the year before, and up 57.8% over the last five years. In fact, even with a fraction- al dividend check received, inves- tors were told their shareholder return was 10.3%. For compari- son, investors in most public utili-
ties in other parts of the country can expect less than a 1% return, while investors in national banks can expect less than a 4% return.
While Pinnacle West CEO Don- ald Brandt trumpets 2012 as “our largest single year of growth for our solar portfolio,” underlining the necessity to achieve a man- dated standard of 15% renewable energy production by 2025, in the same breath, he sought to stamp out the incredible growth of resi- dential solar, which last year saw a 260% spike from 2011. The ques- tion we have when looking at the shift from APS promoting itself as a “solar player” to what its recent actions have been is: Why?
Why would a regulated public utility want to gouge residential solar to such a degree that it would essentially derail an industry built on customer “savings through in- vestment” in a green technology that also enables APS to satisfy the renewable energy mandate?”
As calls to APS Headquarters in Phoenix did not yield a response, scouring through the numbers, we were able to come up with one answer: Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant.
APS’ baby, Palo Verde was com- pleted in 1988 at a cost of $5.9 billion (or $11.4 billion in today’s dollars). It produces enough pow- er to supply much of Arizona, with enough left over to sell to Califor- nia and New Mexico. Each hour, it splits enough atoms to gener- ate 3.3 gigawatts (that’s 1 billion watts), and each year it supplies 29,250 gigawatt hours to homes, schools, and businesses.
With the rampant development of solar just this past year, the oth- er question we had was: How many solar panels would it take to gener- ate the same amount of electricity as Palo Verde?
Consulting with a few solar engineers and contractors, we were able to come up with the solid number: 30 square miles — based on one square foot of con- sumer-grade solar panel generat- ing 34.89 kilowatt (1,000 watts) hours per year.
While 30 square miles may seem daunting at first, we kept in mind the town of Cottonwood is about 11 square miles, Flagstaff is home to 63 square miles, Prescott holds 41 square miles, the city of Phoe- nix encompasses 517 square miles,
48 • DECEMBER 2013 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us
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