Arizona takes second place in national rankings for annual solar growth in 2014

RANCHO BERNARDO, Calif. – Arizona Public Service has been named among the utilities that integrated the most megawatts and/or watts per customer of solar energy in the United States in 2014, the Solar Electric Power Association announced here today. For the second consecutive year, APS also ranked in the top five in four separate categories of SEPA’s annual Top 10 utility solar listings.

The company has been a steady fixture in the upper half of SEPA’s Top 10 since the trade association began ranking utilities in 2007. SEPA’s eighth annual survey includes figures from more than 1,000 utilities across the country on new solar installed both in 2014 and cumulatively.

APS’s top five solar rankings in 2014 include:

·         4th place for cumulative MW by an investor-owned utility (805 megawatts).

·         4th place for annual interconnections (7,931). This ranking is up one spot from last year’s 5th place ranking.

·         5th place for solar capacity per customer by an investor-owned utility (701 watts/customer).

·         5th place for cumulative interconnections (31,806).

Statewide, Arizona claimed the number two spot in the nation for overall annual solar growth in 2014, second only to California.

A significant addition to APS’s solar portfolio in 2014 came from the Gila Bend Solar Plant, which reached commercial operation in October. At 32 megawatts, the plant generates enough energy to power 8,000 Arizona homes. Gila Bend is the second-largest AZ Sun installation and the seventh solar facility in the company’s AZ Sun portfolio. In 2015, APS expects to complete two more AZ Sun solar plants of 10 MW each, which will bring AZ Sun’s overall portfolio capacity to 170 MW, or enough energy to power more than 40,000 homes.

“APS is working to develop more long-term, sustainable energy sources that will continue, in turn, to drive Arizona’s role as a national solar leader,” said Tammy McLeod, APS Vice President for Resource Management. “With more than 875 megawatts [currently] of solar available to our customers now – or enough energy to power more than 220,000 Arizona homes – we continue to grow and promote our vision of creating a sustainable energy future for Arizona and our customers.”

Utilities ranking in this year’s SEPA top 10 accounted for 72 percent of all solar capacity integrated in 2014.

“APS’s long-term commitment to both utility scale and distributed solar played a large part in propelling Arizona to its overall second place ranking for solar growth in 2014,” said Julia Hamm, president and CEO of SEPA. “It’ll be exciting to see how APS leverages its other innovative programs like the new Solar Partner Program and its demand pilot to continue Arizona’s national solar leadership in 2015 and beyond.”

The top 10 solar utilities in the category of Annual Interconnections are:

·         Pacific Gas and Electric (CA)

·         Southern California Edison (CA)

·         San Diego Gas and Electric Company (CA)

·         Arizona Public Service (AZ)

·         Hawaiian Electric Company (HI)

·         Xcel CO - Public Service Company of Colorado (CO)

·         National Grid (MA)

·         Long Island Power Authority (NY)

·         Salt River Project (AZ)           

·         Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (CA) 

The top 10 solar utilities in the category of Cumulative Solar Megawatts are:

·         Pacific Gas and Electric (CA)

·         Southern California Edison (CA)

·         San Diego Gas & Electric (CA)             

·         Arizona Public Service (AZ)

·         Public Service Electric & Gas Company (NJ)

·         Duke Energy Progress (NC, SC)         

·         NV Energy (NV)

·         Jersey Central Power & Light (NJ)

·         National Grid (MA)

·         Xcel CO - Public Service Company of Colorado (CO)

The full Top 10 listings are available on the SEPA website at www.sepatop10.org.

Note: Due to the timing of the report, additional capacity not captured in the SEPA survey was included in APS’s total installed solar in 2014. This additional capacity would have no impact on the ranking.

Click here to see a time lapse of solar energy added to the APS grid since 2000.

About SEPA

The Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA) is an educational nonprofit organization working to help utilities make solar energy a safe, reliable and reasonably priced part of their energy portfolios, while benefiting themselves, their customers and the general public. As co-sponsor of both PV America and Solar Power International, SEPA provides research reports and educational opportunities, including webinars, fact-finding missions and professional networking events.

About APS

APS, Arizona’s largest and longest-serving electricity utility, serves nearly 1.2 million customers in 11 of the state’s 15 counties. With headquarters in Phoenix, APS is the largest principal subsidiary of Pinnacle West Capital Corp. (NYSE: PNW)