Arizona to world: Do we have solar!
The state is trying to use perhaps its most abundant natural resource -- sunshine -- to become a center for clean energy manufacturing and generation.
"I think there's a lot of compelling technology in Silicon Valley that's going to be able to be put to work in Arizona," the chief executive of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council said recently in a downtown office tower lobby across from the U.S. headquarters of Yingli Solar, a Chinese solar module maker.
For decades, border states have raided California, enticing companies to pull up stakes by offering tax breaks, low-cost workforces, affordable housing and business-friendly bureaucrats.
But Broome says he was in California to deliver a different message: Arizona comes in peace. Yes, the state wants a share of California's burgeoning solar industry, but it also wants to develop a cross-border solar industry that will benefit both states.
"We're not interested in succeeding at the expense of California," he said. "California's going to need Arizona as an energy market and we need an export industry. We can't continue to just live off housing and tourism."
Arizona's construction-dependent economy cratered with the collapse of the housing boom. The solar industry could anchor a more sustainable green economy, Broome said.
"When those solar power-plant projects are built, the amount of materials in them is staggering and there will need to be a place for component manufacturing," he said. "A billion-dollar concentrated solar power project creates about a thousand construction jobs. So if you put $5 billion to $10 billion in the ground, it's a nice set of jobs in a state that has a big slump in construction."
Arizona and California increasingly find their renewable energy fortunes tied to each other.
Arizona-based companies First Solar and Stirling Energy Systems are building giant solar farms in California to supply electricity to Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
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