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Solar panels .

How should Arizona value rooftop solar? This week, state regulators will take up that question in a highly anticipated proceeding that could decide the fate of the growing industry.

Determining the costs and benefits of rooftop solar is no easy task. Solar supporters point out the technology provides clean energy close to the source, cutting down on fuel costs and the need for more infrastructure.

Court Rich with the Alliance for Solar Choice says the recommendation in front of regulators only focuses on the savings over a short five-year window.

“You are not going to see that big power plant that you avoid the cost of, and so then you are going to set a policy that doesn’t really encourage solar because it’s pretending like you’re never going to get to a place where you’d save money,” Rich said.

The recommendation also says what the utility pays rooftop solar customers for their extra power should be compared to prices for large-scale solar farms.

Rich says that is an apples-to-oranges comparison, but Phil Moeller of the Edison Electric Institute disagrees.

“It’s important to make sure the value is appropriate given the market conditions,” Moeller said.

He says utilities should not have to pay inflated prices for rooftop solar energy and force other customers to subsidize that.

“Those costs to maintain and modernize the grid have to be shared by everyone because the grid enable distributed resources to even be there,” he said.

What regulators decide is expected to be a roadmap for major upcoming rate cases like Tucson Electric Power and Arizona Public Service.