AriSEIA Sends Letter to Mohave County in Opposition to Solar Moratorium

Mohave County Supervisors
700 W. Beale Street
Kingman, AZ 96401
 
RE: Moratorium on Renewable Energy Projects

Dear Chairman and Supervisors,

The Arizona Solar Energy Industries Association (AriSEIA) is an Arizona based nonprofit, focusing on policies that advance the adoption of solar, storage, and electrification. We are active at all levels of government in the state and represent organizations throughout the clean energy economy. I am writing to urge you to not to halt all renewable energy projects for the next year within the county.

Much of Arizona has very serious air quality and water quantity challenges. Increased deployment of renewable energy can help alleviate both problems. Solar has no point source emissions and lower lifecycle emissions than fossil fuels. It also uses less water in operations and in its lifecycle than most other electricity generating technologies. Further, solar and storage have the opportunity to greatly benefit Mohave County economically. A 25-year fiscal impact summary for an average project reflects the potential to bring in more than $2 million to the City, $12.5 million to the County, and nearly $17 million to the local school districts. That’s a total positive fiscal impact of nearly $32 million from a single project. Further, new companies are relocating to Arizona every day and many of them are doing so to help meet their clean energy goals. The national Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) tracks clean energy procurement on behalf of businesses in their Solar Means Business Report and the numbers are staggering.

Please affirm the Mohave County Planning and Zoning Commission decision. Certainly, do not institute a moratorium on all solar development in the county. I have attached some information on the number of jobs attributable to solar in Arizona, the water usage of solar (operations and lifecycle), and the lifecycle emissions of different electricity generating resources.
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Sincerely,
 
Autumn T. Johnson
Executive Director
AriSEIA 
(520) 240-4757
autumn@ariseia.org