Arizona Corporation Commissioner applauds commission progress on Arizona Energy Modernization Plan
Arizona Corporation Commissioner (ACC) Andy Tobin recently praised his fellow commissioners for the progress made on the proposed Arizona Energy Modernization Plan and working to complete the rulemaking process before the Commission’s natural gas moratorium expires in January 2019.
The Commission passed the moratorium 4‒1 in March 2018. On Aug. 14, the ACC voted 5‒0 to begin a new rulemaking docket to adopt a comprehensive energy plan formally for Arizona. The commission opened the docket on Aug. 17 to assess the principles described in the Arizona Energy Modernization Plan and refine the redline language of the plan’s Clean Resource Energy Standard and Tariff.
Commissioner Tobin recently resubmitted to the new rulemaking docket all the data and documents necessary to maintain its evidentiary support. The submission may be the largest single filing on any issue by a commissioner in ACC’s history. It includes thousands of pages and documents from prior workshops and stakeholder input.
“The Arizona Energy Modernization Plan and accompanying Clean Resource Energy Standard & Tariff rules are the conservative and calculated products of the information accumulated in the above dockets and workshops over the last several years,” Commissioner Tobin said in a letter he recently submitted to the new rulemaking docket.
The plan proposes an 80 percent clean energy portfolio by 2050, three gigawatts of energy storage capacity by 2030, 60 megawatts of biomass capacity for 20 years, a 15 percent Clean Peak Standard by 2030, utility deployment of electric vehicle charging station locations and utility prioritization of renewables and energy storage on new excess transmission line capacity.
The rulemaking process in Arizona typically takes from six months to a year, but accelerating some of the steps could potentially reduce this timeline to 120 days, according to a press release from the ACC.
Commissioner Tobin hopes the effective date of the new Arizona Energy Modernization Plan will be Feb. 14, 2019.
