Dive Brief:
- Dozens of business groups and community organizations, along with 300 residents, have urged the Arizona Corporation Commission to raise funding for efficiency programs at Tucson Electric Power, according to the Arizona Daily Star.
- Last month the utility halted its commercial efficiency programs for the remainder of the year and reduced residential rebates, after running out of money.
- The utility will file its 2018 efficiency plan by Aug 1; in April, TEP filed an integrated resource plan that aims to reach 30% green energy in just over a decade.
Dive Insight:
Facing a $6 million shortfall, Tucson Electric scaled back its efficiency offerings last month. But that decision has raised an outcry from the community, businesses and clean energy advocates.
According to the Star, letters to the Arizona Corporation Commission implore commissioners to increase funding for the programs. But the utility has no plans to do that, the newspaper reports, having just gotten approval to raise rates earlier this year.
Groups signing onto the letter include AARP Arizona, the Arizona Community Action Association, and others.
The utility has filed plans to make its energy system cleaner, including adding about 800 MW of renewable power by 2030. Tucson Electric has also signed an agreement with NextEra Energy Resources to buy power from a new 100 MW wind facility, and is considering an agreement that could bring another 100 MW online as well.
TEP also proposed 192 MW of natural gas generation between 2020 and 2022, along with several energy storage projects sized at about 50 MW, 50 MWh. By 2030, the plan expects 150 MW of new gas generation, along with a 100 MW, 100 MWh storage facility.
The IRP also calls for shutting down a 170 MW coal-fired unit at the San Juan Generating Station in New Mexico and ending a supply agreement in June 2022 that will take another 170 MW offline at the facility.
