While touring a solar power generating station that will provide power to tens of thousands of Arizona homes, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday that America’s embrace of renewable energy will create jobs and boost the economy.

The federal government has approved the Sonoran Solar Energy Project, which will be built on public lands in Maricopa County near Buckeye.

The Arizona Supreme Court is letting stand lower court decisions that uphold the state’s requirement that regulated electric utilities get some of their power from solar and other renewable sources.

The Arizona Corporation Commission today approved a waiver for a western Arizona utility to receive renewable energy credits for energy generated by a Phoenix-area waste-to-energy plant.

The decision by the state agency in charge of implementing air quality policy to repeal the Clean Cars program in favor of emission standards that aren’t as stringent led to a chorus of protests from environmentalist and health advocates.

A renewable energy advocate filed the first citizen initiative of the 2012 election, proposing a dramatic expansion of Arizona’s tax incentives for solar power and a state-run exchange that would buy and sell special credits for solar power.

Arizona’s sunny, dry weather makes it the perfect location for farming algae to produce renewable fuels, an executive of a national biofuels group said Monday.

Attending a renewable-energy company’s grand opening Monday, Gov. Jan Brewer said Arizona will become the U.S. leader in solar manufacturing and technology.

Arizona, with its sunny, warm climate has been hailed as the ideal region for algae biomass production. Proponents hope that algae, which can contain up to 60 percent oil, can some day squeeze out a petroleum substitute that could be produced at a price low enough to compete with natural gas.

With its sharp talons, powerful beak and 7-foot wingspan, the golden eagle is one of Arizona’s fiercest and most imposing birds of prey. It’s no match, however, for the rotating blades of turbines in wind farms.