Apache County residents urged to weigh in on renewable energy rules

Apache County could soon decide whether large wind, solar and battery storage projects are steered by new standards or choked off by tighter limits, a choice that could reshape land use, local jobs, the county tax base and power infrastructure from Springerville to Round Valley. Residents can weigh in at a Planning & Zoning special work session Tuesday, May 26, at 8:30 a.m. MST in the Board of Supervisors meeting room at the County Annex Building, 75 West Cleveland Street in St. Johns.

County notices show the session is part of a broader rewrite of Apache County’s renewable energy ordinance, including proposed amendments to Article 4, Section 436, proposed Article 6 amendments and proposed preferred energy generation areas. Apache County’s Community Development page says the county’s comprehensive plan was adopted on June 4, 2019, and that the Planning and Zoning Commission helps formulate it. A related Planning & Zoning public meeting is also posted for Wednesday, June 3, 2026, at 4 p.m., followed by the public meeting at 5 p.m., at the same St. Johns location.

The debate has been building for months. County agenda materials show a special work session on August 26, 2025, for continued discussion of proposed changes to the Renewable Energy Systems Ordinance, and a public hearing on April 2, 2026, focused on utility-scale solar, wind and battery storage rules. That hearing addressed setback requirements, decommissioning bond requirements and community notice rules, with county officials saying the changes could set the benchmark for future permits.

The stakes sharpened after the Apache County Board of Supervisors approved a conditional use permit in December 2025 for the 500-megawatt Juniper Springs Solar and Storage Project proposed by EDF Renewables on Arizona State Trust land east of the Springerville Generating Station. At the same time, the Arizona Solar Energy Industries Association has pushed back in letters dated December 3, 2025, January 12, 2026 and March 4, 2026, arguing that the draft ordinance goes too far. In its January letter, AriSEIA said the county’s 1-megawatt utility-scale threshold is too low and urged a higher cutoff.

The Apache Natural Resource Conservation District also entered the process, and the Planning and Zoning Commission approved its request on December 4, 2025, to serve as a third-party reviewer for renewable-energy conditional use permits. The district says it covers roughly two million acres in Apache County.

Opposition groups including Stop Lava Run! say Repsol Renewables North America, formerly ConnectGen, is planning large-scale wind and solar projects under the Lava Run LLC banner. Supporters, including clean-energy advocates, argue Apache County should protect health and safety without creating barriers that would block investment, landowner agreements, jobs, tax revenue and grid-supporting projects.