From the New York Times:
… one would not expect to see Barry Goldwater Jr., the very picture of modern conservatism and son of the 1964 Republican nominee for president, arguing passionately on behalf of solar energy customers. But there he was last fall, very publicly opposing a push by Arizona’s biggest utility to charge as much as $100 a month to people who put solar panels on their roofs.
… as the issue pops up, conservatives are even joining forces with environmental groups. In Georgia, a Tea Party activist and the Sierra Club formed a “Green Tea Coalition.” As a result, solar power is fast becoming one of the fracture lines dividing the conservative movement’s corporate and libertarian sides.
Solar power makes total sense where the sun shines a lot, however the electricity grid has to be paid for independent of the energy source . As such feed-in-tariffs and connection charges are critical issues that need to be debated and implemented carefully.
In most case in BC solar power makes no sense due to lower cost of hydro based electric generation facilities, but in Alberta or SK where much power production is coal or gas based it may make sense eventually.
The critical issue as we have seen in Ontario is not to waste tax payer money on unrealistically high feed-in-tariffs bankrupting the province.