On solar and punks

Regulating the punk out of solar … A throwdown for the ages … And ?

Hey readers!

Our energy and water wonk Christian Sawyer has a double dose of water and energy nerdery for you today.

First up, an explainer of how the Gila River Indian Community is dragging Arizona into our solarpunk future.

Then, click on over to the Tucson Agenda for our (God willing) final flashcards of the election season.

Christian will introduce you to the six candidates vying for the Arizona Corporation Commission, perhaps the nerdiest and most important government body that you probably never think about.

And now is a good time to think about it, considering three of the five seats are up for grabs and Democrats are attempting to flip the Commission.

That could mean some major changes to Arizona’s energy policies.

Check it out before you vote!

Solarpunk is a visionary art genre depicting a sci-fi future of sustainable high-tech cities and towns — often more idealistic than realistic.

But thanks to an Arizona tribal community, Arizona might be taking a major first step into that vision.

The Gila River Indian Community just activated the first solar-over-canal system in the Western Hemisphere.¹ In 2021, I was a “techno-economic researcher” and technical writer for the Bisbee-based firm that designed and licensed that technology, and I learned a lot about what’s called the “water-energy nexus.”

Here’s a fun fact that illustrates our water-energy system dynamics:

The Central Arizona Project is the greatest single-user of electricity in the state — it takes lots of energy to pump hundreds of billions of gallons of water hundreds of miles uphill. But energy production requires water too, mainly for cooling down power plant systems. So we use water to generate electricity so that we can move and pump water, so that we can generate electricity, which requires water. … Isn’t that fun?

But some power plants are more thirsty than others. Thermoelectric energy — coal, gas and nuclear — uses 8 to 30 times more water than solar.²

So not only is Arizona one of the best places for solar energy in the country — solar is also one of the best energy sources for our water-limited state’s energy portfolio.

Putting solar panels over canals has a few other knock-on effects.

• It reduces the evaporative loss of canal water by blocking out the sun.

• It potentially reduces algae growth in canals, meaning less maintenance costs.

• Canal waters create a cooler microclimate under the panels, boosting their energy output.

• Canals are often adjacent to energy transmission lines, lowering interconnection costs.

• Canals offer a rare opportunity for commercial-scale solar projects in urban areas.

• Building over canals instead of on land can avoid the environmental impacts of land-based solar, such as increased dust storms, wildlife corridor interruption, and displacement of farmland.

The Gila River government managed to get a large grant from the Inflation Reduction Act to fund this pilot, and they’re already working on expanding the technology along their canal system — while SRP is also looking into adopting it for their canals.

And maybe, one day, the energy-hungry CAP canal system will get its electricity directly from solar panels spanning its canals.

The new Gila River project is just a first possible step in a visionary direction, and only time will tell if it’s a scalable technology, but Arizona might be well-positioned to become solarpunk’s ground zero.

This November, three of the five seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission are up for grabs.

And if you’re thinking — “Wait, what does the ACC do again?” — you’re in luck.

Our water and energy wonk, Christian Sawyer, penned a flashcard series for our sister ‘sletter, the Tucson Agenda, introducing the six candidates for the commission this year and breaking down some of the issues they’ll face if elected.

So check it out and study up, because as we’ve previously noted, the commission is one of the most influential and obscure offices in the state.

Your vote could mean the difference between an Arizona that embraces renewable energy policies, or one that doesn’t.

Too late for a makeover?: The much-awaited debate between Kari Lake and Ruben Gallego went down last night, and while Lake may have taken Gallego down a peg, she did nothing to change the fundamental problem of her campaign: People don’t like her. Lake, who is down double-digits in some polls, dominated the talk time as moderators failed to contain her, and Gallego seemed happy to let her talk.

“I’ve never lied to the people of Arizona,” Lake lied.

Let the games begin: All of Arizona’s counties passed the Secretary of State’s voting tests, which ensures county equipment will accurately tally votes ahead of the November elections, per KJZZ’s Wayne Schutsky. The Maricopa County Republican and Democratic parties signed off on the results. Meanwhile, Pima County reached a record number of active registered voters after an influx of last-minute registrations last week, bringing the total to more than 655,000, about 12,000 more registered voters than in 2020, AZPM’s Hannah Cree reports.

After you cast your ballot, you can help some very tired political reporters continue covering this crazy election season by upgrading to a paid subscription.

Smells like teen spirit: The barrage of inflammatory signs featuring Jeffrey Epstein’s face and telling voters Sen. Christine Marsh voted against prosecuting sex crimes against minors are funded by the NicoPAC, which is run by 17-year-old Nico Delgado of Glendale, the Phoenix New Times’ TJ L'Heureux reports. The teenager has been active in Arizona politics for a while, has a huge social media presence and wants to “stop the radical left from taking our state legislature.” Delgado has taken Marsh’s votes out of context, and no, she didn’t vote against prosecuting sex crimes against minors. There are also signs with no apparent connections to Delgado that purport to be an endorsement of the senator and Democratic Rep. Karen Gresham from the North American Man/Boy Love Association. That’s also a lie, but Sen. Justine Wadsack is peddling the claims anyway.

Punishing protestors: The Maricopa County Attorney's Office leveled trespassing charges at 68 students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests at Arizona State University, per the Republic’s Helen Rummel. Those protests happened about six months ago when students formed an encampment on campus and more than 70 people were arrested. Those cases were vacated in May after ASU officials didn’t refer them to the prosecutor’s office in time, but the new charges are Class 3 misdemeanors punishable by up to 30 days in jail, $500 in fines and up to a year of probation.

The border crisis: The average homicide rate of 11 border cities, including Nogales and Yuma in Arizona, was lower than the nationwide average in 2023, Axios’ Russell Contreras reports. The violent crime rates, however, were slightly higher than national averages, and Yuma had the highest violent crime and homicide rates of all the cities.

The Ruben Gallego / Kari Lake debate had a few memorable moments, but our absolute favorite lines came at the very end.

After spending the first 59 minutes of the hourlong debate largely arguing that we’re all about to get raped or murdered by illegal immigrants or poisoned by their fentanyl, Lake turned to the camera to address all the “kiddos watching.”

“I don’t want you to worry. I want you to dream really big. I want you to know that we’re going to turn this country around and your American dream will become a reality,” she told them.

If any kiddos did watch that debate, what is wrong with your parents? Also, we’re sorry about the nightmares.

1. The first two solar-over-canal systems are in India.

2. Most of the water used for photovoltaic power plants is during the mining of minerals for the production of the panels. Once a PV power plant is operating, only a minimal amount of water is used for cleaning dust off the panels.