Recently I spoke out in support of a critical effort underway in Arizona: keeping the state’s rooftop solar industry alive. Like school choice and health care choice, solar choice should be a core part of the Arizona agenda, and my party’s message. Unfortunately, utility monopolies in Arizona are trying to limit solar energy choice because more energy independence for Arizonans means smaller utility profits.

Chinese solar panel maker Suntech Power Holdings Co. is closing its factory in Goodyear, Ariz., in part because of higher production costs.

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.

If there’s one thing we have plenty of in Arizona, it is sunshine. The sunshine draws people here, powering our tourism industry and real estate industries. But more and more, the sunshine is powering something else — the opportunity for energy independence.

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.

Zimmerman Diary has been operating in Arizona for nearly 90 years, but its long-lasting success doesn’t mean its third-generation owners haven’t had to innovate to survive along the way. Facing rising costs, in March 2011 the Zimmermans installed a shiny new fixture they say will enable them to continue to stay in business regardless of electricity rates.

Republican lawmakers are moving to grab control of energy policy from state utility regulators in a political turf fight over the future of Arizona's solar power industry.

Majority Republicans at the Arizona Legislature are moving to grab control over energy policy from state utility regulators in a move that supporters say would help protect consumers but that critics say puts at risk growth of the state's solar industry.

Until now, visions of Arizona homes powered by renewable energy have centered mostly on rooftop solar panels or huge solar power plants in the desert.

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.