PHOTON International The Photovoltaic Magazine

APS doubles on-grid rebate to $4 per W but limits funding

Arizona Public Service (APS) has announced a doubling of a PV rebate for the start of 2004, bringing the level up to $4 per W for grid-connected systems, limited to no more than half of the installed costs. But APS, the state's largest utility, is only spending up to $1 million annually on the program, meaning it will lead to no more than 250 kW of installed capacity per year from its customers.

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Support: Behind each of APS's high-concentration PV trackers from Amonix is an AES inverter, a relationship AES and the utility have agreed to continue.

Most of its effort towards meeting a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) started by the Arizona Corporation Commission in 2001 (see PI 3/2001, p. 20) will remain focused on large-scale installations. According to the RPS, each of the state's three utilities has to generate 1.1 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2007, 60 percent of which must come from solar.

APS only had 16 on-grid customers who took advantage of the original rebate program, says APS's Cassius McChesney. They will all receive the full upgraded rebate. Applicants for off-grid systems will still only get $2 per W. As of October, APS had 230 kW of installed PV through its on- and off-grid scheme, while it had installed 4.5 MW of centralized systems.

In a separate development, APS has signed an agreement to continue its seven-year relationship with Australian inverter and charge controller manufacturer Advanced Energy Systems Ltd. for developing projects from 2 to 10 MW. Herb Hayden, solar program coordinator at APS, says there are no commitments to any particular projects at the moment. AES inverters are used on many of APS's concentrating and tracking systems.