AZ SMART

AZ SMART is a unique educational tool that crosses silos of issues to seamlessly produce an integrated macro-view of the impact of new utility-scale generation solar installations in the State of Arizona from a siting, environmental and economic perspective, including some transmission overview.

AZ SMART facilitates sound utility-scale decision-making by:

  • Building consensus on policies needed to build a solar energy economy;
  • Pinpointing cost, geographic, economic, and environmental conditions for solar project viability;
  • Accelerating the permitting and siting of scalable projects;
  • Reducing the risks associated with solar projects;
  • Making government agencies more responsive to permitting requests;
  • Encouraging stakeholder agreement about utility-scale solar projects and the associated transmission infrastructure.

Working in partnership with the School of Electrical, Computing and Energy Engineering, plus other multi-disciplinary stakeholders at ASU and the University of Arizona, this three year research project was supported by many high-profile organizations, including APS, Science Foundation Arizona, SRP, TEP, and other solar energy stakeholders.

To learn more about Az SMART, please visit azsmart.org


White Papers:

Impact of Solar Generation upon Arizona’s Energy (Electricity) Security (November 2011)

Energy Sector Technology (August 2011)

Market-Based Incentives (November 2010)

Regulation and Standards in the Energy Sector and their Effect on Solar Deployment (July 2010)

Present and Future Cost of New Utility- Scale Electricity Generation (July 2010)

The Market-Determined Cost of Inputs to Utility-Scale Electricity Generation (November 2009)