PHOENIX, Ariz. — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and panelists discussed efforts to meet rising energy demand at a Western Governors’ Association workshop in Phoenix, with some noting opportunities and challenges navigating state-level permitting and regulation.
Hobbs delivered the keynote at the association’s two-day workshop — Energy Superabundance: Unlocking Prosperity in the West — Dec. 17. The governor said while innovation in chip manufacturing and artificial intelligence is “booming” in the U.S., more energy is needed to support those efforts.
Hobbs touted recent Arizona initiatives, including a $15.6 million investment for grid resiliency projects and an executive order to streamline energy development. She urged Western states to collaborate, saying, “The fact is that America’s energy future runs through Arizona and other Western states.
“We stand on the frontier of energy innovation and generation, and our collective power has the ability to support and promote American advancement for generations.”
In a separate panel on the relationship between energy and economic development, Jake Dubbs, lead adviser for external affairs and tribal relations at SPP, discussed increasing electricity demand and the need for regional cooperation to bring new generation online more quickly.
SPP projects “an increase of almost 35%” in electricity demand by 2030, according to Dubbs.
“The West requires so much attention, and it requires a lot of different groups coming together,” Dubbs said. “And I think that’s one thing that we are really working hard towards at SPP, making sure that all the different groups, unique perspectives, are coming together to talk.”
He said SPP’s RTO expansion and development of the day-ahead market, Markets+, are part of efforts to increase partnerships in the West and take advantage of the region’s resources. (See SPP Markets+ Cruising Through Early Development.)
Navigating state agencies remains a challenge for developers, said Ashley Bunch, manager of government relations and stakeholder engagement at BluEarth Renewables.
Some places, like Arizona, are easier to navigate because agencies are aligned and “understand what our goal is,” Bunch said. “And they really are all kind of working together.
“We sometimes see in other states that a game and fish department may not be as on board as, say, another state land entity, and it makes things … more difficult. … If the state agencies can come together and … put forth the guidelines very clearly … that would be very helpful to us. And I do think Arizona does a very good job of that.”
Long interconnection queues also pose obstacles to new generation, said Chris Pasterz, economic development director in Navajo County.
Developers and large energy users look for favorable governments “that have pathways for development,” Pasterz said. Expanding the use of private land is one part of the solution, he noted.
“That’s one thing that we’ve done in Navajo County to promote the private landowners’ utilization of their lands, their resources,” Pasterz said.
The agreements between private landowners and developers must ensure that local communities reap the benefits from new projects, he added.
Policymakers “can really help with that speed of development by finding your areas where there is a pathway for private land development,” Pasterz argued. “But also supporting those private elected officials who are negotiating those deals locally to make sure that those benefits are retained into the future for their community.”
