Federal officials said Tuesday that they are on track to decide by early next year whether two new utility-scale renewable-energy projects – one wind, one solar – can move forward in Arizona.

MESA ai??i?? The city of Mesa is launching a pilot program that will provide up to $100,000 in incentives to residents and business owners who install a solar system.

Gov. Jan Brewer said she met with representatives of 30 technology companies in Munich that have a “keen interest” in Arizona and is hoping that a trade delegation to France and Germany will bear fruit when those companies are ready to expand into the United States.

The Bureau of Land Management has recommended 237,100 acres of public land in Arizona are suitable for renewable energy development, part of an effort to speed up the process for clean-energy companies looking to set up shop in the state.

The Bureau of Land Management on Monday put aside nearly 21,000 acres of public land near Yuma for the next two years while it studies its potential for use as a solar energy site.

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.

A Phoenix residential solar-energy project could be replicated around the country, said Valley business and government representatives in a meeting Wednesday with Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

On several policy matters like climate change and health care, Arizona often butts heads with the U.S. government.

But step outside the Capitol mall, and you’ll see a modern building with solar panels on its rooftop.

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.