The race on separate renewable energy plans is turning a critical curb. One puts the power in voters' hands, and the other in the state corporation commissioners'.

Billionaire Tom Steyer is behind the "Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona" initiative proposing to shift the amount of solar energy we use from six percent to 50 percent by the year 2030.

He has until July 5 to submit the required number of signatures needed to put his initiative on the ballot.

That's the same date state Corporation Commissioner Andy Tobin hopes his fellow regulators will vote on his "Arizona Energy Modernization Plan," promising an 80 percent shift to renewable energy by 2030.

His plan encourages residential solar power in new homes.

"For the residential rooftop owner, a four-hour battery that you could plug into your garage somehow and charge your car?" he mused. "Game changer."

His plan also calls for recycling biomass collected from Arizona forests.

"Because I'm sick of these forest fires," he said, "I went to the forester and that's where I got a lot of detail on how much we had to clean up. Because if I miss this opportunity, I miss another fire season. I can't wait to 2019."

But Steyer's campaign consultant Bill Scheel has said nuclear power should not be considered "clean'' energy when uranium mining around the Grand Canyon and the Navajo Reservation has contributed to high rates of cancer in some of those communities.