Palo Verde nuclear plant could close if renewable-energy measure passes, APS says

ASU's economic analysis of the green ballot initiative looks positive at first, reflecting what backers have said about creating jobs and benefiting the economy.

The Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona measure would revise the state constitution to require utilities to get half their electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind by 2030. This would initially bring construction jobs and stir the state's economy, according to an examination of the ballot proposal recently conducted by Research Professor of Economics Tim James.

In this article on the azcentral.com April 12, 2018:

During the construction phase, these are big, earth-moving projects — big solar farms and wind farms. Then the job effects flip around. Once the solar farms are built, the construction jobs go away. Once the solar farms displace the baseload plants, thousands more jobs go away, including 2,500 at Palo Verde, plus 800 to 1,000 more who are needed twice a year for monthlong refueling procedures when repairs are made. Nobody is in a solar farm. Nobody is taking care of a wind farm, either.&nbsp

— Research Professor of Economics Tim James, who is director of research and consulting at the L. William Seidman Research Institute