County supervisors approved a $22 million package of contracts Tuesday to buy solar power that is expected to save $4.5 million over 20 years.
“We wanted to save the most amount of money for the taxpayers and this seems the best way to it,” said Supervisor Sharon Bronson.
The board unanimously approved 11 contracts with Tucson-based Solon Development to build, install and maintain solar-covered parking structures at several county facilities.
The county will buy the electricity generated by the structures from Solon at a 20-year fixed rate of 12.8 cents per kilowatt. The current rate the county pays Tucson Electric Power is 12.1 cents per kilowatt. But that rate is set to increase an average of 3 percent per year, topping off at more than 21 cents after 20 years.
TEP spokesman Larry Lucero urged the county to reconsider the plan for the benefit of the utility’s other ratepayers.
“It will cause us to recalculate some of what we do in terms of the entire rate structure,” Lucero told supervisors.
Under Arizona Corporation Commission rules, TEP and other power providers purchase the excess power solar generated by installations on rooftops and other solar systems.
The purchases increase operating costs for the utility that have to be made up in other areas. One way to recover those costs is through increasing user fees for other customers.
Lucero asked supervisors to wait to approve the contacts until at least June, when new rules TEP proposed to the Arizona Corporation Commission would reduce the rate TEP has to pay when it buys back excess power solar installations generate.
TEP currently buys the solar-generated power at 12.8 cents per kilowatt but that will drop to 5.8 cents when the new rule kicks in.
County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said if supervisors didn’t approve the contracts before the change it would end up costing taxpayers more.
“If we don’t we’ll be at a disadvantage,” Huckelberry said.
The county set a goal of receiving 15 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2015. Huckelberry said these solar installations would put the county over that goal.
