Arizona’s largest electric utility, Arizona Public Service (APS), has eschewed coal in their most recent annual, long-term Resource Plan. In doing so, they have unimaginatively whittled down ‘options’ to a lone candidate: renukeable ™ energy.
Arizona’s projected growth will demand a dramatic increase in the availability of electricity. Under the current budget crisis, it is difficult to imagine Arizona’s leadership hustling to address the enormous costs of expanding nuclear energy, let alone to confront the myriad other issues that surround nuclear energy. Could the best hope lie in what must be the secret wish of many . . . stalled growth? The very thought is antithetical to a culture habituated to unrestrained expansion.
In any event, nuclear energy is a long-term measure. It would take more than a decade before new capacity might be available. The demands are more immediate.
Because of both heightened demand and heat’s suppressive effects on the distribution grid, it is also possible that global warming may exacerbate the challenge of delivering sufficient electricity during Arizona’s intensely hot, summer peak demand periods.
The budget crisis will likely also prevent Arizona from employing the short-term measure of importing additional energy.
The comeuppance for Arizona’s long history of repressive rate schedules and the decades-long delay of its solar destiny may be at hand. Will Arizona become a national treasure or a national tragedy?
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